


Of Preservation and Ruin

by LarraineLynch



Category: Mistborn - Brandon Sanderson, Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-11
Updated: 2021-01-23
Packaged: 2021-03-05 03:40:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 24,626
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25177825
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LarraineLynch/pseuds/LarraineLynch
Summary: Preservation without Ruin. It was a dangerous path to allow individuals to tread. It was the gift and curse granted by the yellow sun of earth. It was a path and power set that Krypton had banned.And so, when Lena Luthor began crafting kryptonite, there was no objection she could morally make.
Relationships: Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor
Comments: 45
Kudos: 72





	1. Prologue

So I was inspired recently to dip my toes back into writing... and this weird mixing of the Supergirl show and the Mistborn series. Some references to the larger body of Sanderson's Cosmere work will most likely be mentioned.

First off, I'd highly recommend you read Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn first. I'll slowly explain core concepts of the magic system as we get deeper in this story, but its an amazing series and I don't want to spoil anything on that front for people. You have been warned.

This is going to take place in an AU that takes inspiration from Season 2. Sam is still Reign. 

Krypton is a take on Kryptonian culture if it had it was a shoot off from the Mistborn books.

The story takes place canonically far in the future from Era 1 and 2 of Mistborn. There will likely be some changes to Mistborn canon. And Krypton hasn't been totally destroyed because I love Mistborn way too much to not leave the door open to world hop back to it...I'm thinking it might be more in line with what happened to Ashyn in the Cosmere lore. Still somewhat inhabitable but the planet was severely damaged by a cataclysm around the time Kara and Clarke were sent away.

Not sure how often I'll update and how long the story will be...we'll see.

 _Update Note 11/28_ : I rewrote and expanded the first few chapters a tad. I think for now, the first few chapters are at its final version. Chapter 3, I'll prob spend the next few weeks, writing, re-writing, expanding, and shifting...I'm a tad too much of a perfectionist at times when it comes to writing.

* * *

**Prologue**

_Tenish years ago_

Kara Zor El journeyed to earth in what felt like a terrifying free fall. It was oddly fitting, Kara would later think, that her potential ruin would come with her encased in metal. Metal that protected her, but could not stop the end if it chose to come. 

She landed safely on a deserted beach. And by the time her rapidly beating heart settled to a more steady thrum, the door of her ship was being opened. For a second, blinking at the harshness of the yellow sun, Kara thought her uncle, Jor El, had journeyed across the cosmere to find her. That she wouldn’t have the duty of raising Kal El to be the scion of their house on her own. That she wouldn’t need to be the protective knife that she had just barely begun training with her Aunt Astra to be. 

The man that found her had the blue eyes of her Aunt Lara and a slightly softer face than her uncle. His first words to her, to her bemusement, was in High Imperial. _Wasing the flying of there. Wasing the seeing of the ship._

It took her brain a moment to translate. Her high imperial was rusty and the words came out of Kal El’s mouth like he was talking with a mouth full of metal shards. 

High Imperial was the language of scholars, lawyers, and judges. Even before the Final Ascension, it wasn’t a commonly spoken dialect, but it was fitting for an orphaned child of Krypton to mistakenly assume that it was the primary language spoken. 

High Imperial was originally eastern street slang. A bastardized version of the language spoken by orphans and other forgotten children. The man who normalized the dialect, as much as it was, had much in common with Kal El. 

The man who would later in life become the Lord Mistborn was abandoned by his parents to an unknown future. He re-named himself _Lestibournes_ . Shorthand for _Lefting I'm born_ in High Imperial _._ Which translates roughly to ‘I've been abandoned.’

It was the most commonly used phrase in High Imperial in Krypton's modern lexicon. Dozens of stories about the Pre-Ascension Era utilized it. 

Kara, had not been designated by birth as a scholar, so her own fluency in the language was limited beyond a few commonly used phrases. She was not well versed in the language enough to communicate effectively. 

She tried to speak Kryptonese, but Kal El stared at her quizzically, sighed, and began the arduous task of trying to communicate with hand gestures, garbled high imperial, and what Kara would later realize was English.

Kara stood there shaking slightly from adrenaline and shock, feeling smaller than ever next to the metal ship that ferried her far from home. After what felt like ag, the man pulled a device from his blue bodysuit, pressed a few buttons, and began frantically talking on it. A soft, soothing voice spoke on the other end, and slowly the man relaxed, sighed, and said a few more things in that foreign tongue. 

And then, the man did something that soothed her, the man lifted off the ground and flew. He didn’t fly far. Just far enough, she assumed, to be out of hearing range of most sentient species. 

Kara had spent much of her youth watching her Aunt Astra and Uncle Non soar through the air. Her heart beat calmed and her mind cleared just enough to notice the Zor El coat of arms on the blue fabric of the suit the man wore. She was in the hands of an allomancer of her house. One that appeared far more skilled in steel pushing and iron pulling than most Mistborn. She was safe.

She didn’t realize until later, she should not have been able to hear the soft, calm voice on the other end. A voice that no normal human or Kryptonian should have been able to pick up. Not when Kara wasn’t burning metals to enhance her senses. 

After the man pressed a button and turned off the communication device, he landed smoothly in front of her. He crouched on the balls of his feet, rested a hand on the family crest, and said, “Kal El.”

He pointed at Kara, and looked at her earnestly. 

“Kara Zor El,” she said, and then she realized what he said. This man, who was almost as old as her own parents, was Kal El. Her baby cousin. The one was tasked to protect. The one she was born to protect. She had failed. Her mind fell into a panicked numbness. Kara remembered little of the flight to National City, the temporary stay at Kal’s apartment, or the journey to the Danvers. 

She didn’t understand at first that Kal El, the head of her house, didn’t plan to take her under the protection of his house. It was Jeremiah and Eliza Danvers that explained haltingly about the sun, her powers as a Kryptonian on Earth, and her probable immortality. And in that moment, her world was shattered for a second time. And Clarke, as she was repeatedly reminded to refer to him by, hadn’t even bothered to tell her himself. And then, not long after, Kara Danvers was born. And even with her new family, Kara couldn’t help but feel abandoned. _Lefting I’m born_ , Kara thought as she fell asleep that night, listening to her new sister huff dramatically and burrow into the blankets on her twin bed. _I’ve been abandoned._ It was the final thought she had before drifting to sleep that night.


	2. Chapter 1

_Update Note 1/26_ : I rewrote and expanded the first few chapters a tad. I think for now, the first few chapters are at its final version. Chapter 3, I'll prob spend the next few weeks, writing, re-writing, expanding, and shifting...I'm a tad too much of a perfectionist at times when it comes to writing. Shifted some dialogue to be in line with current canon that has Jonn unaffiliated with the DEO. I realized I melded multiple seasons of canon more than I thought in terms of character progression and stages. 

Chapter 1

Kara Zor El had become an abomination. Even before she went on a Red-K fueled rampage. Even before she broke her sisters delicate human bones in her fury. Even before she callously tossed Cat Grant off a skyscraper. Running on the most thrilling high she had ever experienced. 

Even before…

No, she had become a dangerous monster the very second that the first ray of Earth’s vibrant yellow sun touched her skin. Light not diluted by the eerie and comforting mists that blanketed Krypton’s surface.

And so, when James Olsen called a group meeting to report that Lena Luthor began crafting kryptonite to stop Reign from going on her own anger fueled rampage, there was no objection she could morally make. The Kryptonian Accords, signed hundreds of years before when the great houses began genetically strengthening allomantic and Feruchemical powers, was clear on that front. 

It was legal to create contingencies to catch, detain, and depower individuals invested genetically or Hemalurgically with power that granted immortality, particularly gold compounders. The near immortality gained through gold compounding, the way the feruchemical and allomantic powers melded together, was a primrose path to madness. The damage that could be caused by those individuals was catastrophic.

The powers granted by the yellow sun broke the spirit of the accords. Green kryptonite, well it was just the cosmeres way of setting a level playing field, Kara figured.

Could it kill her? Would it cause her blood to feel like it boiled in her veins. Like the breath was squeezed from her lungs. Like she was a blight that the very Earth was trying to destroy. 

Yes, green kryptonite was the most acute form of torture and pain she had ever experienced, but the potential for a rampaging, kryptonian near immortal could not be left unchecked. It would rain ruin on Earth. A ruin not easily checked by any living being.

Kara, as the defacto leader of the House of El, had to support such an effort. Clarke, as demonstrated when he fostered her out to the Danvers, had no desire to learn the necessary information to fulfill the role of house leader.

Krypton might be near uninhabitable, but she was still bound by the laws of Krypton. The laws were written with the knowledge that inhabitants could very easily immigrate to neighboring planets in the larger cosmere. And gold compounders, and their like, were an existential danger on the planet or off. 

If Krypton had not descended into chaos and ruin, she would be legally bound to do everything she could to stop Reign and return her to Krypton for judgement. And if Krypton was incapable of delivering that judgement, the Great Houses had the duty to deliver the Kryptonian for trial. 

Lena Luthor, as brilliant as she was, was Earth’s best chance of crafting a means to detain and depower Reign.

“We can get the DEO to confiscate it,” Alex said, her hands were in her leather jacket. 

Kara and her allies gathered in Kara’s cramped living room. Kara stood by the window, gazing out at the blue sky. The sun shone brightly on her skin. Seeping into it. Strengthening her mind and body to protect it from the negative ramifications of channeling so much of Adonalsium’s power funneled out through the beams of the yellow sun. 

The debate over how to confiscate the kryptonite had been raging for the past hour. And Kara had spent that hour half listening, and having a crisis of identity that she had ignored for the last decade. A crisis that Reign and Lena had pushed to the forefront. It was time she stopped ignoring who she was.

“No,” Kara said, her voice came out too soft. She turned away from the light seeping through the window, and faced the group. 

The debate raged on. Alex turned to Jonn Jones. He wore his human skin. Hair a close cropped black. Clothes professional and non-descript. As a shapeshifter, a telepath, and with decades of living amongst humans, he had developed and cultivated an impressive human persona. One would not even know that he wasn’t as human as he seemed without prior knowledge. 

His calm demeanor and fatherly devotion usually soothed a sore that the loss of her family, culture, and planet had caused. Not today.

“Jonn, the DEO can-,” Alex began. 

Kara glanced over at Alex and said more firmly, “No, we will not prevent the creation and storage of green kryptonite.”

Alex opened her mouth to object. The entire room had frozen and stared at her as if she had lost her mind. For once, Kara thought, I’m seeing clearly what must be done. 

“No,” Kara said more forcefully. She blurred slightly as she accidentally took two steps closer inhumanly fast. Her cape sharply whipped behind her. Kara clenched her jaw at the slip. She was usually more controlled than that, she had to be. “I didn’t object when Kal El confiscated the last source of Kryptonite the DEO possessed. I should have.”

Kara exhaled sharply. Rust and ruin, Kara thought. How had things come to this? When had she fallen so far from the tenets that she had lived with from birth. When had she allowed herself to assimilate so thoroughly that the unnatural immortality of all of the other Kryptonians around her was an inconvenient truth that she pushed from her mind? That she had allowed the destruction and squirreling away of the only substance that could be used to keep them in check. 

Alex scoffed. Her brown eyes were furious and posture stiff. “And you shouldn’t have. For god's sake, Kara. Lena Luthor made a weapon that could kill you. And you want to, what? Leave it with her until it gets turned against you or Clark?” The words roared from Alex like a tidal wave. Each word getting progressively louder and angrier. 

Kara pushed down the stirring of anger she felt. Alex had a blind devotion to her that was both touching and a tad infuriating. Alex, Kara was sure, would break laws and ruin lives if it meant protecting the people she loved. It was both her greatest strength and weakness. One that Kara would not indulge in this moment. 

“She won’t,” Kara said, calmly, “We will find a way to deal with Reign. The kryptonite will give us a means to detain her and find a way to contain her. It buys us time.”

The room fell into an uneasy silence. “She’s not wrong,” Winn said. Winn backed up a step when Alex turned her glare on him. “What? I would prefer not to be gutted by a Kryptonian serial killer...not when I still haven’t seen the final chapter of _Star Wars_.”

“Really, that’s what you're concerned about, not being able to see the conclusion of _Star Wars_ ? _”_ Nia asked. Nia was lounging on one of Kara’s couches. As a new member of the group, she had spent more of the last hour observing the debate, blinking sleepily, and jolting herself awake periodically. 

“It’s a legit concern,” Winn shot back. “I don’t want to spend all of eternity wondering how the Skywalker Saga ends. I’ve invested too much time and energy into that story. If the Kryptonite allows us to stop Reign, I say we allow it. I vote no on being murdered by a sociopathic Kryptonian.”

“This isn’t a vote. I won’t allow a Luthor or anyone else to have a weapon particularly designed to kill you. It’s only a matter of time until someone uses it to hurt you.” Alex still burned with a righteous fury. 

Kara sighed, “And if someone did use the kryptonite to kill me, everyone must face Harmony at some point.” 

Alex snorted and rolled her eyes. It was a common reaction to any comment about the religious figure that her family had dutifully followed for centuries. Since the aftermath of the re-shaping of Krypton. Since Ruin was prevented from blanketing the planet in a never ending ash fall by the Ascendant Warrior and the Hero of Ages. 

“You don’t know that!” Alex ran her hands through her hair in frustration. “You’re not seeing clearly.” 

Kara took a deep breath. It was time she remembered who she was. Even if Kal El, Alex Danvers, and the rest of the super friends found it inconvenient. She was Kara Zor El, from the line of In-Ze and El. One had roots from the Terris people, the other could directly trace their line from the Ascendent Warrior herself. She had taken pride in both once upon a time. 

“I’m afraid I’m seeing more clearly than I ever have.” Kara said gravely. She stood straighter, her blue eyes rested on the group. Everyone stared at Kara, as if they had never seen her before. Winn fidgeted in his seat and his brown eyes bounced between both Danvers sisters. 

James Olsen frowned. It was hard, Kara was sure, for him to find a balance between his long standing loyalty to her cousin and Lena Luthor, his girlfriend. Given that he was the one to call the meeting, she was sure, given enough time, Alex would convince him to help her steal or confiscate the kryptonite. 

Maggie, who had been standing slightly behind Alex, tried to interject. “Babe, I think we all need to calm down.” She glanced uneasily at Kara. “She does have a point though. Reign beat Kara into the ground not long ago. As much as it pains me to say it, the police and DEO don’t have the power to stop her. We need an edge. If Lena has already...”

“No, we’re not having this discussion.” Alex said sharply. “Lena Luthor, as much as she’s been an ally in the past, cannot keep the Kryptonite. If I need to get Clark involved, I will.”

Kara interjected. “Clarke’s opinion doesn’t matter. I am the head of the House of El. It is my responsibility to uphold the House of El and In-Ze’s legal obligations. In this my decision supersedes his.”

“That’s bullshit,” Alex proclaimed. “Since when do you give a crap about Kryptonian law? We’re on Earth and Krypton is dead.”

The room fell into an uncomfortable silence. Once again, all of the wandering eyes in the room jumped to Kara. 

Kara felt the words like a blow. She forced herself to not visibly react. Grief could come later. Anger could come later. 

Maggie cleared her throat, and grasped at Alex’ arm, pulling her back slightly. Alex allowed herself to be pulled away and fell silent, but Kara knew the slight ceasefire was temporary at best. “She does have a point, Kara. The legal system on Earth and in National City doesn’t follow Kryptonian law. No more than it follows Canadian law.”

“Krypton might be a desolate wasteland...for all I know....the government might be in shambles or gone…It doesn’t matter. This might be Earth, but Reign is a Kryptonian criminal. Kryptonian law is clear. If I allow a Kryptonian to amass that level of power, and execute that level of terror without trying to stop them, I can be stripped of lands, titles, monetary assets, and legal rights. I can be tried on any world or space station that had an alliance with Krypton or followed Kryptonian Law.”

The room fell into an uncomfortable silence. Once again, all of the wandering eyes in the room jumped to Kara. 

Alex swallowed uneasily, “Kara, I’m sorry...that was out of line, but I won’t allow anyone to hurt you. You’re my sister. We will find another way to deal with Reign that won’t involve allowing individuals to stockpile objects that will hurt you. That should fulfill your obligations. I have to file the paperwork to confiscate the kryptonite with the DEO. We can contact Clark later to move it to a safe location. It’s the only safe option.”

“If you do this, I’ll oppose you,” Kara said. “I will not stand by as another Kryptonian sets themselves up as an immortal god king. My people have lost too much, fought too long to let another planet be taken over by an immortal despot with delusions of grandeur. As the head of the House of El, I cannot endorse or allow moves that will strengthen a Kryptonian criminal that is invested with that much power.

Jonn sighed and before Alex could say anything more, held his hand out placatingly and said soothingly interjected, “Alex, Kara, I understand both of your positions. Alex, I'll come with you to the DEO to consider the best decision for Earth and the US government as a consultant. We won’t make any moves until the safest and best option is considered and chosen.”

Kara nodded. The atmosphere despite Jonn’s definitive statement felt charged.

Slowly the group filed out. Winn sent her an apologetic look. Kara stood in an empty apartment facing the shadow of what she had once been and the insanity of an unrelenting eternal future. 

It was time that she, as the leader of the House of El, remembered who she was. It was time she approached Lena Luthor about a more formal political alliance. Kara Zor El walked briskly into her bedroom closet. 

She picked up a metal safe that no normal human could carry. It was a custom designed safe.The exterior was lined with aluminum to prevent allomancers from sensing the safe, and the internal parts was nth metal to limit the potential of individuals with super strength walking off with it. Even if allomancers were rare on earth, it was always better to be prepared. 

Inside the trunk were dozens of vials of blood with bracelets, earrings, and spikes floating inside. As well as dozens of vials of metals, a collection of alloys that had taken her years to accumulate. And a collection of earring and bracelets metal mines. And folded carefully under the vials was a mist cloak. The dark fabric with a myriad of ribbon like tassels.

If she was to face Reign and the world killers, if she was to protect Lena Luthor as she did her important work, she would need to shed Supergirl and become the woman she was always meant to be. 


	3. Chapter 2

As of 11/28, I tweaked, expanded and reworked the prologue and the first chapter. You might want to revisit that if its not your first read through.

Thanks for the comments and likes and such. I appreciate it.

Chapter 2

She picked up a metal safe that no normal human could carry. It was a custom designed safe.The exterior was lined with aluminum to prevent allomancers from sensing the safe, and the internal parts was nth metal to limit the potential of individuals with super strength walking off with it. Even if allomancers were rare on earth, it was always better to be prepared. 

Inside the trunk were dozens of vials of blood with bracelets, earrings, and spikes floating inside. As well as dozens of vials of metals, a collection of alloys that had taken her years to accumulate. And a collection of earring and bracelets metal mines. And folded carefully under the vials was a mist cloak. The dark fabric with a myriad of ribbon like tassels.

Kara carefully removed the mist cloak from the safe and set it aside. The black and grey tassels of the cloak dangled and shifted. It had been years since she had once adorned one. That would need to change soon. She set it aside on the ground carefully. 

Kara set the vials of metal flakes in a line beside her. She held onto the glass vial labeled tin in her grasp. The grey metal clinked together as Kara’s shaking hand grasped it. 

Kara had little in terms of excess money, the salary of an assistant and a reporter, could barely keep her housed and fed, but what little she had went towards accumulating enough alloys to fuel her allomantic powers for months. 

On Earth, allomancy was overkill for a Kryptonian. What use was allomancy when you had the strength, endurance, and the flight of a God? Even still, Kara couldn’t not stockpile metal just in case. 

It wasn’t the powers they granted; it was the final bond to her family and ancestors. Allomancy and ferochemy was in her blood. It was an art and a skill set that the In-Ze’s and the El’s prioritized. 

Allomancy and ferochemy was in her blood, it was time she remembered that. 

It was Kara’s greatest shame. She had sunk so fully into the skin of Kara Danvers that she forgot who she was supposed to be. Allowed herself to forget the oaths she had sworn to her house, to her planet, and to her God. 

_I will utilize the skills granted by Harmony to protect Krypton and the larger cosmere._

_I will protect the physical and social well-being of my family to the best of my abilities._

_I will make no move to needlessly endanger my own life, except where no other recourse is possible._

They were heavy oaths for a child of six to swear. Kara had spent months before the formal swearing repeating the oaths over and over again to her mother, father, Aunt Astra, and Uncle Jor El until she knew them as well as her own name. 

Her family explained the oaths as best they could, but it wasn’t until years later that the full meaning of the oaths became clear. How could a child understand such weighty concepts when they had no sense of danger and no sense of the weightier topics that the adults in her life contended with? 

Partial understanding would come when her parents ferried her into a pod with instructions to care for her young cousin. She was to be the protective knife that guarded and guided Kal El. As a full Mistborn, she was to protect Kal El. It had taken years of planning to re-introduce enough Terris genes into the bloodline for the first full feruchemist to be born to her house since the Pre-Ascension Era. 

Kal El didn’t need or want that protection. Nor did he want to learn about his heritage and claim his birthright. One of the first Terrisman in the El line with full access to all of the feruchemical powers and Kal El knew as much about it as a mistwraith would. 

Maybe it was time to start planning the future of her house without Kal El. If he wanted to be Clark Kent and forsake all that was Krypton, the Fortress of Solitude and her ships had schematics for the birthing chambers. Brainy or Lena Luthor herself might be able to help her re-craft the technology. 

She could re-build her house one child at a time. The future of the House of El did not need to die with her and Clarke. While she still lived, there was still hope. 

The moment that Kara snapped and her powers had awakened, her Aunt Astra began training her in the use of tin to enhance her senses. Due to the political and social advantage that enhanced senses imbued, tin was one of the metals the House of In-Ze had prioritized for generations. It was always the first metal that every In-Ze allomancer who could burn the metal learned.

And if the allomancer was a Mistborn...well the physical combat training would come after. And that included allomantic flight. 

And then Earth happened. Between the pressure to assimilate and blend in, as well as the powers granted by the yellow sun, Kara Danvers had no use for allomancy and ferochemy. 

Not that the training hadn’t been useful. She had long been used to the overpowering sensory input that her newly empowered body now forced her to contend with. Her Aunt Astra always told her, _learn to focus on one thing at once. Then another. Then another. Start small. You need to learn to see, to hear, to feel beyond the noise. It will be your duty to be the eyes and the ears of your house. Until you can’t…_

It was a mantra, a lesson, that Kara had clung to over the years as she grappled with newly inflamed senses that far out matched what tin burning could grant _._

And now, there was a Kryptonian wreaking havoc on National City, and suddenly the magic of Krypton had use again. Kara Zor El had a place again. 

Kara rubbed her finger across the glass one more time and placed beside the others. And then she carefully removed a cadmium bracelet from the box, as well as a heavy black box. She carried them to her bathroom. She placed the items on her counter. They clinked as they landed on the cheap wood counter. 

Kara took a deep breath and opened the box. Immediately Kara was hit with a dose of green kryptonite. Immediately the breath escaped her lungs in ragged pants, she felt her knees begin to buckle, and she could see the green aura of the stone seep into her veins. 

She forced her legs to lock, and kept herself upright by force of will alone. And then with shaking hands, she picked up the cadmium bracelet. She snapped the bracelet around her right wrist, as it clinked shit, she could feel various sharp points on the underside of the bracelet pierce her skin. 

She closed the box with shaking hands, and then collapsed onto the floor. Her hands shook, her breath came in and out in ragged uneven pulls, and her heart thundered away in her chest. Kara clutched the hand with her bracelet to her chest. She ran her fingers over the smooth surface until her breathing evened, her heartbeat returned to normal, and the pain died down. 

The pin pricks of the bracelet remained minorly painful, but she knew that the discomfort would fade with time. She focused her senses on the bracelet. She could sense a power there. Kara breathed out a sigh of relief. 

Kara tapped into the metal mine, and purposefully stopped breathing. Despite her held breath, she could feel the oxygen flooding into her body from the metal mine. Until it didn’t. At around forty-five seconds the metal mine emptied, and she could feel her lungs begin to strain. 

Kara allowed herself to breath and then laughed in delight. She felt a smile tug at her lips. It worked. The bracelet was one that she had crafted on Earth -- not exactly designed specifically for feruchemical use. She had been unsure if it would actually work as a metal mine. 

Cadmium as a feruchemical power isn’t the most powerful of the options, but Kara would make use of it. It was going to be a doozy to begin to fill her metal mine though. She was going to have a lot of long nights of hyperventilating to accumulate enough power stored to have a comfortable reserve. She would do it though. To defeat Reign, Kara would need every edge she could get. 

Kara sighed and stood up shakily. She carefully grabbed the metal box and returned it to the chest in her room. 

She carefully touched a vial of blood with an earing inside. The symbol for tin, two circular crescent moons with what looked like a spiky english ‘i’ through it, was engraved onto the glass. These vials of jewelry were some of the only objects her parents had sent with her from Krypton. The jewelry, when worn, would either grant access to or enhance allomantic powers. But that could wait. 

Kara packed away the vials and locked the chest. She rested her hand against the sturdy material. 

For now, she had to visit Lena Luthor before the DEO raided L-Corp. That kryptonite would need to be moved tonight. 

But first, Kara Zor El was almost ready. In a blink of an eye, Kara zipped to her closet. She rooted past the cute skirts, button up blouses, and soft cardigans that made up her every day outfits. There, in the very back of the closet hidden behind her collection of extra Supergirl suits, was the suit she had commissioned when she was high Red-K.

The utilitarian black jumpsuit reminded her far too much of the black outfits mistborn would wear when prowling the rooftops of Argo City. She had been far too young to venture out with her Aunt Astra and Uncle Non on their patrols, but that would’ve been her future. It was a connection to her past that she was loath to throw away, despite the fact she commissioned it while on her rage fueled rampage. 

In the blink of an eye, she changed into the black suit. 

She let the Supergirl outfit fall to the floor, the red cape fluttered in the air as it fell, before finally settling. The red spread across the marred wood floor like blood. One of Kal El’s last vestiges of Krypton. She appreciated, he cared enough about her to gift her his baby blanket, but in the back of her mind, she couldn’t help but realize it was another element of Krypton that Clark chose to ignore. He might be one of the last sons of Krypton, but he was not of Krypton nor did he want to be. 

That fact ached sometimes, wearing at her the way a discordant sound at the very edges of her hearing would. It was there, but most of the time she could forget it. 

Kara ran her fingers over the House of El coat of arms on the left side of the super suit. The symbol was smaller than Clarke typically liked. Small enough to not be a declaration of allegiance, positioned of center on the left side to be easily concealed when needed. 

Kara breathed a sigh of relief. The Supergirl suit had always been a restrictive, heavy burden. One that she had taken up because it seemed like a connection to Clarke. One of the last living vestiges of Krypton. It had been a stabilizing influence, but now...now she needed to be something more. 

But first, she had to contend with Reign. Her breath caught with the memory of being beaten into the ground by the super-humanly fast and strong Kryptonian. The dark clad being was more Ruin than Preservation. She also seemed, from their brief conversations, to lack the empathy needed to use her powers ethically. She was a super-powered and dispassionate arbiter of a justice that lacked context or insight. It was time she rose to the occasion.

Kara took off with a flying run, and zipped out of her window into the cool night air of National City.

~*~*~*~

Long before Kara Zor El donned the red cape, blue suit, and emblazoned the house of El coat of arms on her chest, she trained in the carefully controlled flight of a mistborn. It wasn't a true flight. Not in the way, a plane flew or a super powered Kryptonian flew. Mistborn couldn’t just hang in the air without any effort.

As a mistborn, flight was the initial rush of leaping off a tall building, and then executing a carefully timed series of iron pulls and steel pushes. It was a deadly art. And more than one allomancer had died from pulling at the wrong metal, or pushing too hard against another. One wrong push or pull could leave an allomancer impaled by a darting object, or splattered against the concrete. 

Kara Zor El floated above National City. She listened to the thrum of car engines, the steady drone of thousands of tvs, the determined barking of dogs and the angry yowling of cats. And in the very edges of her hearing she could hear small time thieving crews planning various raids and minor hi-jinks. She forced her mind to focus away from the plans. She had bigger concerns tonight than non-violent criminal offenses. The police would need to deal with that. 

She turned her focus towards the DEO. It was far easier now that the organization relocated to the city. 

She could hear various heartbeats all clustered in a close proximity. Maggie seemed to be talking, “The soonest we can get a court order from a judge is early tomorrow.” 

“That’ll have to be fast enough,” said Jonn.

Kara zoned out of the conversations. She sighed in relief. She and Lena had a few hours to relocate any sensitive items before the DEO could confiscate them. It would have to be enough. 

Her eyes turned to L-Corp. The building was not the tallest, nor the most grand in National City. But the steady rhythm of Lena Luthor’s heart always made it the building her senses honed in on first. 

Lena Luthor seemed to be in her office. It was a relief to Kara. Much of the past week, Lena spent much of her time in the bowels of L-Corp. An area of the building that Kara Danvers and Supergirl did not have easy access to. She could force her way down there, but that would cause a level of damage and chaos that Kara wouldn’t utilize against a friend and ally. 

And tonight, she had already wasted enough time. She had to meet with Lena while she could. The Green Kryptonite, and any other sensitive items, needed to be relocated outside of L-Corp before the DEO or the police came to search the place. 

And the time had long passed for her to disclose other deeper secrets to Lena. She feared how Lena would take the knowledge at this late date. But she feared losing Lena entirely if she waited. And at least, while they had a common enemy, Lena would give her a chance to repent her mistakes. 

-

End note:

I made Kara a Cadmium ferring because a few months ago I was re-listening to all the books in prep for Sanderson's Rhythm of War and the Ars Arcanum mentioned that Cadmium ferrings had to fill their metal mines by choosing to hyperventilate. And that seems horrible. And so when I was like...what one power will I give Kara out of the 16 potential ones...and I was like why not Cadmium? It's grants Kara an additional power boost that's not covered over powered, and its use will be situational enough it won't be too much of a crutch. Plus its promises to be hella interesting to write.

I'll try to get the next chapter up in the next few weeks. I've started on it a tad. Just need to finish. Then I'll prob work on other projects. And circle back to edit and expand on it with fresh eyes about a week after its completed.


	4. Chapter 3

As Kara flew to the balcony outside of Lena’s office, she couldn't help feel dissatisfied with the ease that she made the journey. There was no skill required. Flight, as a Super, required almost no effort. Once the initial difficulty with over-turning or landing too hard was overcome, flight was as simple as floating on a calm lake.

Kara stepped carefully onto the metal railing of the balcony and dropped onto the crisp white tiles. Kara could hear the bobbing of ice in a glass, as well as intermittent typing on a keyboard from within. The typing in the office paused, and Lena’s heart rate stuttered before continuing in the comforting pattern that had become a focal point of Kara’s life over the past few years.

Kara leaned against the metal railing and ran her fingers along the smooth surface. She would wait for Lena to come to her. It was important to meet with Lena, but social niceties should still be observed. Kara had always been acutely aware of human boundaries; the norms would be oh so easy to trample over for someone of her strength and power. And Kara couldn’t bear to trample over Lena Luthor, not when the world seemed to do it far too often. She would wait, always, until Lena opened the balcony door for her.

The door opened, Lena stepped into the doorway and leaned against it with a tired smile. Despite what Kara knew had been a grueling week of late nights in the lab, she looked as immaculate and professional as always. Raven hair in a high ponytail, a few fly away hairs that no mortal eye would notice, escaping the immaculate hair style. A white lab coat on over a red blouse and specially tailored tan trousers.

Lena paused, her lips hanging open for a moment, and her eyes widening as she took in Supergirl’s new outfit. Kara felt her cheeks heat as Lena’s eyes trailed along her from head to toe. And then finally settled on the House of El sigil.

Kara shifted her weight and cleared her throat. “I’m sorry for dropping in like this.”

“Supergirl, you know you’re always welcome.” Lena smiled wanly. “New outfit, I see.” Lena stepped forward a few steps. When she came close enough, she reached out and traced the boundary of the sigil with her left hand.

Kara felt the breath escape her lungs and stall. She felt a slight pull as a trickle of breath entered her metal mine. Kara reached up with her right hand and grasped Lena’s to halt the motion.

“It was time for a change,” Kara said, her voice soft. “Far past time.”

“Well, it looks good.” Lena smiled, shifted her hand around to grasp Kara’s palm, and then squeezed. “I’d love to design a new suit for you in a similar style. I’ve had a few thoughts on materials that will provide better protection than even your old suit.”

Kara felt warm. This woman. How did she get so lucky to have such a good and selfless best friend. “I’d be honored if you’d design a new suit for me, but I’d like to stick to this general color scheme and style if you don’t mind. You’d design something brilliant, but this,” Kara said. She paused for a second trying to find the right words. “It’s...generations of my family wore a similar design...”

“Of course,” Lena said. “It’s very…” Lena trailed off taking in the outfit again. After a few seconds, her lips quirked into a slight smile, she shrugged and she settled on, “Black.”

Kara laughed. She was acutely aware of Lena’s fingers moving with the motion of her breaths. “Typically the uniforms are either black or grey. It’s designed for guard duty, as well as nighttime espionage, and reconnaissance.”

“Is that what Supergirl would have been if she remained on Krypton? A guard and a spy? A far different role than the stoic and strong Superhero you are today,” Lena noted.

Supergirl. Kara felt a twinge of guilt. The smile fell from her lips and her fingers began to shake with nerves. She would’ve taken a step back if she wasn’t resting against the railing. But no, no more running.”

“Is something wrong?” Lena took a step further into Kara’s space. She pulled Kara’s arm away from the sigil and held resolutely onto Kara’s hand.

Kara cleared her throat, took a deep breath and said, “Kara Zor El would’ve grown up to be a jack of all trades family body guard and spy. My cousin Kal El would’ve become the next head of house. It would’ve been my job to do anything needed to keep him alive and safe.”

“Kara…,” Lena trailed off. She raised the hand not clutching Kara's hand and rested it against Kara’s cheek. She brushed her thumb against her face. Kara could see the connection being made in Lena’s eyes. The slightest widening of them. The leap from Kara Zor El to Kara Danvers is a fairly easy one.

Kara just needed to pull the final band-aid off. “I was adopted on Earth. When I was adopted, I became Kara Danvers.”

Lena froze and let her hands fall to her side.

Kara let her go. She wrapped her right hand around the bracelet on her left. The cadmium spikes embedded in her skin twinged slightly at the motion. “I know,” Kara said desperately. “Lena, I know I should’ve told you ages ago that I was Supergirl...but I’ve only ever told three other people. And I know it’s not an excuse, but when you’re an illegal alien of the actual alien variety...you learn not to tell anyone and...I was a coward.”

Kara trailed off and finished softly, “And I loved, more than anything on Earth, being just Kara with you.”

Kara’s heart broke as Lena refused to meet her eyes. After what felt like ages, Lena blinked, cleared her throat, and said, “You’ve only told three other people?” Her voice sounded shakier than normal.

Kara nodded. She needed to do more than this. Sorry wasn’t enough. A lame explanation wasn’t enough. Rust and ruin, Kara thought. It’s time to throw all of her cards on the table. There wasn’t a woman on Earth more worthy of Kara’s devotion and faith. She could do this. She could be more for Lena Luthor.

Clarke didn’t need her or want her. Not more than loosely connected cousins. The Danvers, as much as they loved her and she loved them, they just didn’t need her. No more than they already had her. Lena might. And Kara knew, despite the lack of familial connection, she would be far happier aligning herself with Lena Luthor than she would Superman.

Lena made to take another step away from Kara. Before Lena could further retreat into herself, Kara lowered herself to one knee, careful not to fall too hard and crack the balcony. She reached out to grasp Lena’s hand. To Kara’s relief, Lena let her. Not rejected yet, Kara thought.

“I, Kara Zor El of the ancient houses of El and In-Ze, swear by Harmony, and my foremothers, the Ascendent Warrior and one of the last Keepers of Old Terris, that I will work with you, Lena Luthor, to advance our goals, be truthful in all of our dealings, and protect you where you cannot protect yourself.”

Lena stared down at her eyes wide. “And Lena,” Kara said softly, “I do not swear oaths on my house, my gods, or my ancestors lightly. And if you decide I need to do that from afar then so be it, but I would love to form a more permanent alliance between our houses. There is no one on Earth more worthy. ”

Kara’s heart beat rapidly in her chest. By Harmony, let this work. Kara didn’t know how she’d survive without Lena Luthor in her life. Lena was everything.

Lena gazed down at her, green eyes wide and disbelieving, and her body language was far looser than it would be if Lena had already decided to discard Kara. Not completely closed off, Kara thought. I still have a chance. A slim one, but a chance nonetheless.

“Kara, I wish you would’ve told me sooner. It’s been years.” Lena’s lips quivered slightly for a second.

“Yes,” Kara said. “And I will regret that and apologize for that every day for the next lifetime if you let me.”

Lena shifted her hand to grasp Kara’s more solidly and moved to pull her up. Kara let her, moving with the motion until she stood before Lena. “I’m furious,” Lena said. Her lips pulled into a frown. The hand not in Kara’s was crossed definitively across her torso.

“I know,” Kara said mournfully. I’m sorry, Kara wanted to say again and again and again. But Lena needed to say this to her. Kara would not steal this moment from her. Not when she had hid away from so many more moments over the years.

“I’m heartbroken you didn’t allow me to mourn with you. You sent Mon El into space alone. You grieved alone because I didn’t know who you were.” Lena’s voice broke at the end. Kara saw a sheen of tears in her eyes.

Kara’s breath froze in her lungs. She choked out, “I know.”

Lena turned away from Kara. She staggered over to a metal bench against the wall and collapsed onto it. “You almost died. I watched...Reign almost killed you. I -- I almost lost you. I wouldn’t have known.”

Lena met Kara’s eyes. Watery green eyes meeting watery blue. “Would Alex have told me? If Reign had killed you? Or would I wake up one day and Kara Danvers would just be gone?”

Kara pulled at the material of her pants nervously before forcing herself to release the material. Her skin felt far too tight. The thought of Kara Danvers just vanishing into thin air and Lena left to pick up the pieces almost too much. “I..she would’ve told you. I swear it. I wouldn't have left you in the dark. I love you too much to leave you wondering. I made her swear to me that if anything ever happened she’d reveal the truth. And I asked a few others just in case..”

Kara wouldn’t leave informing the relevant people of her death to one person. What if Alex also perished? What if Alex couldn’t or wouldn’t reveal the truth when the time came? There were far too many variables to rely on Alex Danvers completely.

“Who?” Lena asked. A few tears escaped Lena’s eyes, and she angrily wiped them away.

Who did you decide you trusted more than me? Who did you have lie to me over the last few years? Kara could sense the unasked questions. Kara’s hands twitched to reach out and comfort Lena. To take the few steps over to the bench, sit down, and embrace her, but Kara hadn’t earned that right again. Not yet.

“Only a few people. At first only Jonn and Winn.” Kara paused. She knew the next name would hurt Lena more. She hesitated.

“At first? Who else did you tell? Who deserved to know more than me?” Lena’s eyes pierced Kara.

“I asked Nia to tell you a few weeks ago.”

Lena laughed bitterly. “Of course...Nia...why not?” The words came out with a bitter tinge. “Of course you’d tell Nia. Afterall, she’s definitely had enough time to prove herself.”

“It’s not because I trust her more. She was having some identity and family issues...I couldn’t let her be alone.” Kara clenched her hands into fists anxiously. “Lena, I...wish I could tell you why right now. That I could bear all my secrets, but what led to that reveal isn’t my story to tell.”

Lena closed her eyes for a moment that felt like it lasted a lifetime. Finally she opened her eyes and nodded. And then she froze again and her eyes widened. “Not James.” Lena begged. Not the man I’ve been dating for months. Not the man who should trust me and be honest with me.

Kara sighed and shook her head. “Not James. He knows. He’s always known. Kal El, my cousin, told him before James moved to National City.” Kara felt a prickle of annoyance at that fact. It still stung bitterly that Kal El sent a minder...one that she now had to spend far too much time worrying about getting killed by every thug and supervillain in National City.

Kara paused uncertain about much to say. She had been careful over the last few months to watch how she talked about James Olsen to Lena. Despite her current standing with the man he was still her friend’s current boyfriend. And Lena had been so happy over the last few months, it felt selfish to taint their relationship with her own problems with the man.

“What?” Lena asked.

Kara caved at the uncertainty glimmering in Lena’s eyes. She signed. “I couldn’t trust James to tell you who I was if I died. James has always been Superman’s friend first...I never trusted that he would tell you. Not with his history with Lex. He wouldn’t want another Luthor receiving hints to learn Superman's identity. Even if he’s in a relationship with you.”

“Another Luthor.” Lena laughed. It had an edge of bitterness and hysteria in it. “It always comes back to that. That’s all I’ll ever be. I was fooling myself if I thought anyone would forget that.”

“Lena Luthor is who I want to ally myself with. If you want to bring Lex and Lillian into the fold then so be it. Every family has unreasonable and ethically dubious black sheep. I’ll argue against re-admitting them to our coalition. I’ll tell you to be careful. Vipers, as useful as they are, will bite eventually. And when they do, I’ll be waiting to protect you. That I swear.”

Kara shifted impatiently on the balls of her feet. Her heart beat rapidly in her chest. She wanted this to work out. Needed it more than she needed anything else in recent years.

Lena wiped her eyes one more time chasing away any tears before they could fall. She blinked a few times and pressed a thumb and forefinger against her closed eyes. After what felt like ages, Lena returned her hands to her lap. She bit at her lip and said, “All I can think about in this moment is that I can’t live my life without you, Kara Zor El. I’m furious, hurt, and so, so sad, you waited so long to tell me...but I need you more than I’ve needed anyone.”

Kara let out an audible, ugly, heaving sob. She sank to her knees.

“But Kara, I need time to process this. I need a few days to cry and mourn, and get over how furious I am that you lied to me for so long. But then...I’d like to get to know Kara Zor El. Can you understand that? Can you give me that time? And then I’d like to talk about what you want this alliance to be. I’d like to consider it.”

“I wish,” Kara cleared her throat when the words came out a croak. “I wish I could give you time to mourn. To come to terms with this, but we don’t have time. Lena, the DEO are going to receive a warrant to raid L-Corp and your home. They know you’ve been making Green Kryptonite.”

Lena, for a moment, looked wounded all over again. She began to shrink into herself before remembering that she was Lena Luthor and did not shrink no matter the circumstance.

Kara could see her chin getting ready to rise stubbornly. Kara couldn’t lose her now. Before Lena could say anything or close off completely, Kara rushed in to clarify. “I came to warn you. You need to move it all. Tonight. They won’t be able to get a warrant until tomorrow. That gives us a few hours to relocate it to a secure location.”

Lena gazed at Kara, her face a blank mask. Kara could sense Lena cautiously weighing her options and judging Kara’s words.

“I know, Lena, this is asking a lot. I’m coming to you despite the DEO’s wishes because Reign is a threat. And there isn’t anyone I’d trust more on Earth to create and store weapons that can help us beat her. You choose the place and I’ll transport it and you there. And if you feel like you need to move it to a location I don’t know about...I’ll help you transport it to a truck or car and then I’ll fly to the other side of the world as you transport it to the new location.”

It hurt to say. To offer a solution that acknowledged that Kara had so badly shaken Lena’s trust that Lena might want to hide the Kryptonite from even her. It had to be done. Moving the only weapon that could hurt and contain Reign was too vital.

Lena rose to her feet. She brushed her hands absently along her lab coat, smoothing it out absently. She regarded Kara coolly. “You would trust me to store the green kryptonite? Not afraid I’ll use it to kill you? To maim you? To hold you captive?”

Kara shrugged. “You wouldn’t. Not unless I was infected with red kryptonite or otherwise compromised. And if I was...Earth deserves a chance to fight back.”

Lena tilted her head to the side and studied Kara. Kara refused to look away. “You’re serious,” she said. Kara felt a pool of shame at Lena’s skepticism.

“Yes,” Kara admitted. “It was a mistake to allow Kal El to confiscate the green kryptonite from the DEO. Kryptonians on Earth are far too powerful to not allow a means to detain us.”

“OK,” Lena nodded.

“OK?” Kara asked. She couldn't help the smile that started to spread across her face at her relief.

“We’ll relocate the kryptonite to an off the radar safe house I have just outside the city boundary.”

Kara felt joy rush through her. It wasn’t all lost. She had a chance. “We’ll relocate it together?”

“Yes, come on.” Lena walked into her office. Kara followed. Lena’s office was all clean lines and modern architecture. It was the type of design that relied a tad too much on metal for Kara’s taste, but it exuded the aura of a confidant modern day business woman. An aura that was needed, Kara knew, for a woman carving a space for herself in a male dominated field.

“The kryptonite and a few other sensitive items are located in my personal lab. I can place it in a lead lined briefcase and you can transport it to a safe house I have not far outside the city boundary.”

Kara followed Lena down the halls of L-Corp into an elevator. Kara’s heartbeat stalled as the doors closed, leaving them enclosed in the small metal box. Her hands shook as she forced her mind to focus on the sound of Lena’s heartbeat.

Kara jumped in surprise as Lena grasped her hand and squeezed reassuringly. “We should plan how to handle the DEO and the police tomorrow as well.”

“Yes,” Lena agreed. “You can wait for me at the safe house. I’ll meet you there and we can plan out our next moves in a secure location.”

“I’d like that.” Kara said. The elevator dinged and the metal door opened. Lena let go of Kara’s hand and led the way out of the small metal box. Kara forced herself to follow at a normal non-enhanced pace.

They stopped outside of the lab. Lena leaned over for a retinal scan, and slipped her thumb on the sensor for a fingerprint scan. Kara could hear the gears in the lock on shift. Lena opened the door. She held it in her hand. She paused in the doorway. “Do you trust me?”

Kara didn’t pause for a moment. “With my life,” she said.

“I need you to wait here while I get the kryptonite secured? The faster I get this done the better.”

Kara smiled. “Go. I’ll wait here for you.”

Lena disappeared into her office. The door swung closed behind her. No sound escaped. Lead lined then. Really need to test if tin enhanced senses would allow me to hear through lead lined door and walls, Kara thought. She’d have to ask Lena to help her investigate, Kara decided.

Kara grinned at the thought. Nothing sounded better than exploring her allomantic powers with Lena. Dealing with Reign would be a challenge, but she trusted that Lena would help her succeed. She just had to wait a little longer.

__  
I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I'm looking forward to delving into more Mistborn, actiony stuff now that the emotional coming clean to Lena is taken care of. At least the initial reveal and fall out at least. I have a few ideas in the pipeline I'm playing with I'm excited to explore. I think it'll depend on how ambitious and long I want this story to be. I'll try to update again in the next few weeks. In the meantime, stay safe out there and happy holidays. 


	5. Chapter 4

Kara Zor El spent the half an hour that Lena spent sorting out the kryptonite on the floor against the wall hyperventilating. With every pained gasp, she could feel more breath seep into the metal mine. 

Every time she started to see black spots in her vision, Kara stopped and gradually her breathing started to return to normal. It hurt like hell. And it was an unnerving process, sitting against the wall purposefully flirting with unconsciousness. It was tempting to stop, but then Kara would remember Reign’s fingers choking the life out of her. Kara needed every advantage she had to defeat Reign. 

The only source of comfort is if she lost consciousness, she knew that her breathing would return to normal. She didn’t know a lot about how to use this particular aspect of her powers, but her Aunt Astra had started to explain the basics of her powers to her before she had to flee Krypton. She wouldn’t have started to train with the power until she was older, but it was far safer to start safety training, as well as, allomantic and ferochemical theory earlier.

The door began to swing open. It took Kara’s oxygen deprived brain a moment to register the sound. Kara abruptly stopped filling the metal mine. Her chest clenched painfully one last time. She could hear Lena gasp, the sound of a heavy object hitting the floor, and then the sound of frantic footsteps. 

Kara focused on Lena as she dropped to the floor next to her. She saw double. Two Lena’s blended in and out of each other. Kara let her head fall back against the wall. She closed her eyes. 

“Kara, what’s wrong.” Lena’s voice was fast paced and frantic. “You shouldn’t have felt the effects of the kryptonite out here.”

“Sorry,” Kara gasped. “Not kryptonite.” Kara opened her eyes and to her relief, only one normal, in focus, Lena knelt next to her.

“What can I do?” Lena asked. She hovered uncertainly next to her. Kara pushed past the fact that Lena hadn’t treated Kara Danvers with this level of disconnect in years. It will take time to rebuild trust, she told herself. 

Kara carefully stood. She placed her hand against the wall. Her fingers broke through the drywall. Flakes of paint and chips of wall littered the once pristine floor. “Sorry,” Kara said sheepishly.

Lena stood and grabbed at Kara’s arm. Kara let herself lean against Lena’s warm body. It felt nice, but they didn’t have time to linger on the moment. 

“Sorry about the wall,” Kara repeated. “Give me a moment and I’ll be good to fly.”

Lena huffed. She circled her arm around Kara’s back. “I don’t give a shit about the wall, Kara. You’re not flying anywhere until I can check you out.”

“We need to move the kryptonite now just in case. I can--”

Lena rolled her eyes and tightened her grip around Kara’s waist. “This isn't a discussion, Kara. I’ll drive us to the safe house and you can explain what happened and why you think I shouldn't be worried that I just found you hyperventilating on the floor.”

Kara nodded and sighed. Next time she actively charged her metal mines, she’d really need to make sure she had more recovery time. 

“Good,” Lena said. “My car is in the underground parking. We’ll have to use the elevator to get there.” 

“It’s fine, really, Lena.” Kara smiled wanly. It felt nice that Lena noticed Kara’s discomfort with small spaces, especially recently. 

“It’s really not,” Lena answered. “Nothing about this situation is currently fine, but we’re moving in the right direction.”

“Hey, Lena?” Kara waited until Lena looked at her. “Thanks.” _Thanks for caring. Thanks for giving me another chance. Thanks for being you._

Lena squeezed Kara’s arm in answer. “Stay here.” Lena released Kara carefully and slowly. She stood for a moment to make sure Kara wouldn’t collapse to the floor, and then she speed walked over to a briefcase, picked it up, and then hurried back. She wrapped her arms around Kara’s waist again. 

“You don’t need-,” Kara started to say. 

“Humor me,” Lena asked. “Let me take care of you for once.”

Kara couldn’t help the blinding smile that spread across her face. This moment felt like her birthday, Christmas, and Thanksgiving all rolled into one. They _were_ going to be alright. 

***~~***

“How are you feeling?” Lena glimpsed away from the road briefly to look at Kara. 

“I’m feeling better.” Kara fiddled with her cadmium bracelet. “I owe you an apology and an explanation.”

“We have twenty minutes.” Lena slowed and stopped at a stop light briefly, and the car was out of an intersection, Lena glanced over at Kara. 

“I’m what my people called a gasper; I can store breath...well...technically I can store oxygen in metal for later use.” Kara lifted the arm with the bracelet and motioned at it. “It has cadmium spikes that are embedded in my skin.”

“What does that have to...” Lena trailed off. Kara watched the glare of the streetlights shift Lena’s face in and out of shadows. “You have to hyperventilate to store it. That’s what you were doing while you waited.”

Kara blushed and nodded. “Yeah, that’s why we’re known as gaspers. It's a useful skill, but in order to use it, well, I’ll need to hyperventilate fairly often to store up enough power to be useful. It’s the first time I’ve actively over a long time tried to store the power. I shouldn’t have done it while waiting for you, but with Reign I don’t have as much time to prepare as I’d like.”

Lena nodded. “I can see the importance, but I would have appreciated some warning,” Lena said dryly.

Kara winced. “I’m sorry. I....I didn’t quite realize the recovery time wasn’t as quick over prolonged sessions.”

“That sounds risky and dangerous,” Lena said looking out at the road. She opened her mouth, pursed her lips, and then closed it again.

“What?” Kara asked.

Lena glanced over at Kara quickly before immediately returning her eyes to the road. “I don’t want you to take this the wrong way. I would like to present to monitor any future prolonged sessions until we can be sure that they are safe.”

Kara smiled, giddy at Lena actively suggesting activities to do together. Kara never thought she’d ever be ecstatic about planning sessions to actively hyperventilate. “I’d love that.”

Lena head whipped over to look at Kara. She arched an eyebrow incredulously. 

Kara laughed. “Maybe love is too strong a word.”

Lena merely smiled and returned her focus to the road. Kara began to monitor their surroundings. Kara watched the building zip past the car window. 

After a few minutes of companionable silence, Lena broke the silence. “Do you have any other powers you’ve been hiding?” 

Kara looked over at Lena a tad worried, despite everything, that this new reveal _had_ further damaged what little trust remained. To Kara’s relief Lena seemed more calculating than upset. Her sharp mind assessing the best ways to utilize Kara’s talents.

“Yeah, I’m also a mistborn, an allomancer, with access to all of the allomantic abilities. I’ve never used any of them. It’s a fairly broad range of powers. Flight, manipulation of metal, emotional manipulation, strength and endurance enhancements, time manipulation, enhanced senses.” 

Lena jerked her gaze back over to Kara. “Kara, that’s incredible. Could Superman do all that?”

Kara shook her head, “No, Kal isn’t an allomancer. That particular trait is from my mothers line. The El’s are ferochemists. And Kal’s mother was from a not quite as strong feurochemical line. Kal is the first full ferochemist in the El line in generations.”

Lena laughed. She drummed her fingers on the steering wheel. “Lex would've had a fit if he knew.”

“It’s not something anyone ever needs to be overly concerned about. I’m not even sure if he knows.” Kara shrugged. “He’s never been overly interested in Krypton. He’s human in all the ways that matter.”

The car fell into a heavy silence. Kara rarely allowed herself to express any bitterness toward Kal El or the almost debilitating scar that the loss of her people and culture wrent on her soul. After all, what good did her loss do to anyone? 

“Anyway,” Kara said, pulling herself out of the moment. “ferochemy and allomancy, are both fairly expensive arts to maintain on Earth, I’m not sure if he even wanted to if he could easily obtain the means. I’ve been scrimping and saving for years and barely have enough metals to last me a few months. If my mother hadn’t shipped out a portion of the In-Ze and El collections I’d be in much worse shape.”

“We’ll need to fix that. I’d like for you, once we get to the safe house, to send me a list of everything you don’t have.” 

Kara glanced over at Lena. “You don’t need to. I don’t want--”

Lena abruptly pulled to the side of the road, shifted into park, and turned to Kara. 

Kara fell silent and watched Lena with large blue eyes. 

Lena grasped at Kara’s hand. “I know we’re in a weird place right now, but I have to say this. If I don’t say it now, I might never.”

Kara squeezed Lena’s hand and waited. “From one orphan to another, I get it Kara. I get watching your entire life end before your eyes. I get the pain and stress of being in suspended limbo not being sure where you belong. And I get the fresh hell of burying the bulk of the loss and pain because people just don’t get it. I would _love_ to be there for you in a way I wasn’t aware I needed to be. And if I can spend a small fraction of the Luthor money to help you to reconnect to your roots, nothing would make me happier.”

Kara didn’t even try to blink back the tears that sprang to her eyes. Kara threw her arms around Lena. Lena was kind enough to meet the hug halfway. The hug was a fifteen out of ten even if the seat belts Kara wore dug into her skin and prevented her from throwing as much of herself into the hug as she wanted. 

And in the darkness of the car, after the hug concluded, Kara giggled at the absurdity of the moment. Kara would’ve never imagined that Reign, James Olsen, and her sister would lead to this moment of pure joy with Lena Luthor. Kara had never felt more seen.

* * *

End note:

This chapter really meant to skip directly into a safe house planning session. And then I started writing and Kara was like...why not start charging my metal mine right here? This won't go wrong at all...People don't freak out at all when they walk into a room and someone is hyperventilating.

And then, instead of flying, Kara drove over with Lena because friends don't let friends fly when they have issues standing on their own. And I meant to immediately scene skip to the safe house...and then I started writing...queue slightly angsty car conversations.

Oh well. That conversation will be next time. And then the ball will get rolling down the hill a tad in terms of countering the DEO and dealing with Reign...the end result keeps shifting a tad...but I have a few main points planned out which should be fun.

Thanks all for everyone who took the time to read, comment, kudo, etc., etc.

Oh and I hope everyone had a belated Happy Kollas Head-Munching Day! The best and only known Mistborn holiday.


	6. Chapter 5

Human’s tended to be exhausted by two o’clock in the morning, but Kara only felt true exhaustion when she blew out her powers or after weeks of not resting. Kara spent her nights watching television, reading, and putting herself into a meditative state that wasn’t quite like sleep, or very rarely taking catnaps. Her nighttime hours were primarily designed to reduce her body's calorie requirements. She had to be careful or she wouldn’t have enough money to feed herself, not with the extra food that actively using her yellow sun given powers required. Other than that, she only really required sleep one night a week. She had a few days yet ‘til she began feeling groggy enough to require sleep. 

And so, Kara waited patiently, lightly tapping her fingers against her own leg as Lena stored the Kryptonite in the underground lab of the safe house. The safe house was a two-story building with an underground lab in the basement. The walls of the lab must’ve been lined with lead because Kara couldn’t hear into it. 

Kara settled down further into a cushy red couch in the living room. The couch was a surprisingly cheap material. All of the furnishing from the couch, to the coffee table, to the bar stools in the kitchen seemed to be generic enough that Kara was pretty sure that Lena had just mass ordered the furniture from a catalogue uncaring of the end result. 

Not a safe house that Lex Luthor would’ve built. From the little she heard from Kal, Lex Luthor was definitely the type to enjoy the comfort and trappings of wealth too much to slap together a cookie cutter, cheap house with furnishing that could be found in millions of American homes. 

Kara perked up as she heard the click of a latch and the creak of wood as Lena exited the lab. A few minutes later, Lena entered the living room and collapsed into a dark brown recliner adjacent to Kara’s own.. 

“It’s done?” Kara inquired.

Lena signed, and rubbed at her eyes tiredly. “I’ve locked the kryptonite in a safe. It should be secure for now. It’s too late to begin to actively look at how to utilize the kryptonite against Reign. We should focus on how to handle the DEO tomorrow.”

“I want to be there.” Kara interjected before Lena could say anything. The thought of her sister arresting Lena out of misguided loyalty and protectiveness made a slither of unease settle in her stomach. Alex Danvers was her sister in almost all of the ways that mattered, but Kara couldn’t allow Lena to be arrested in her name. “I need to send a clear sign to let the DEO know that I will not allow them to falsely imprison or harass you.” 

Lena shook her head, strands of raven hair slipped over her shoulders at the motion. “We shouldn’t tip them off that you warned me.”

Kara frowned at that. She _had_ to be there to ensure things went smoothly. “What else will they think? They’ll know the moment they show up, try to serve a warrant, and you’re prepared for them that I warned you. It’s time I stopped _playing_ human.” The word playing came out with more venom than Kara meant to give it.

Kara liked humans; She respected them, but she had spent too long pretending to have the same knowledge, values, and physical capabilities of a human. She was old enough, powerful enough, and had enough allies to start on the road to re-claiming her heritage. 

Kara was jarred out of her spiraling thoughts as Lena rose gracefully to her feet, walked over to the couch Kara was settled on, and sat down against the arm of the couch. She slipped her feet out of her heels, swung her feet onto the couch, and settled them on Kara’s lap. 

Kara’s breath stalled for a second and she felt the power trickle into her metal mine. Lena wiggled her toes teasingly, and let a satisfied smirk cross her lips. Once Kara began breathing normally again, Kara rested her hand against one of Lena’s sock covered feet to still them. 

Lena let her smile melt into something softer and more genuine. “Say, you did come to my office tomorrow morning, what did you have in mind?”

Kara let her palm shift down to grasp Lena’s ankle before beginning. “Starting tomorrow, if you’ll have me, I’ll start working for you as your personal bodyguard. That’ll give me reason to be in your office for the confrontation. And if you don’t mind, It’ll give me an excuse to live at your penthouse. I’d prefer to make sure the DEO can’t snatch you away at your home.”

Lena gazed at Kara, her eyes wide and her mouth pulled into a frown. “Kara, are you sure? You love being a reporter.”

“When I was born,” Kara began. “My parents made the decision to prioritize allomancy over feruchemy when they were determining my genetic makeup. The In-Ze’s have long had the tradition that the first child is made an allomancer and is designated for the Warriors Guild.”

Kara rubbed absently at Lena’s ankle before stopping when she realized what she was doing. She fought down a blush before clearing her throat and continuing. “Years ago, when Cat Grant discovered who I was, she tried to fire me because she thought a lowly assistant job was a distraction from saving lives. She was right, but not in the manner she thought.” Kara paused as she searched for the words to explain. 

“I chose journalism as a career path because if I couldn’t protect my family...if I couldn't fulfill my role, I could at least pursue a vocation that my cousin had such passion for.” 

The bonds of family, the honor of your house, the importance of ancestral knowledge, they were tenants of Kryptonian society that anyone that had a degree of allomantic of feruchemical power maintained. Too much had been lost and regained over the centuries to not adhere so fervently to those traditions. 

“And now?”

“And now,” Kara said. “I can no longer afford to pretend a passion for a career I don’t have. I liked it well enough, but it’s not the right path for me.” Kara shrugged. “If you would have me, I would love nothing more to dedicate my life to protecting you and helping you make our houses a force to be reckoned with.”

“A Super and a Luthor united,” Lena Luthor said, her voice tinged with wonder. Her green eyes were bright with excitement. 

“No,” Kara shook her head. “An In-Ze and a Luthor.” 

“Not El? Didn’t you say you were Kara Zor El.” Lena arched an eyebrow. Lena shifted and Kara released her hand from around Lena’s ankle ever conscious of not hurting her. 

“It is or was...I’m technically the head of my house, what little of it remains. And as a full mistborn, my genetic ties are closer to my In-Ze ancestry who were the allomancers. It’s more proper, for me, to take on the In-Ze name. If I ever have children that are either a misting, they only have access to one of the allomantic powers, or have access to the full range of feruchemical powers, they’d take on the El surname if that particular head of house isn’t claimed by Kal or one of his children.”

Lena studied Kara with an interest that she had rarely experienced from anyone when discussing her home world. 

Kal, had all of the information he could possibly want about their culture in cold hard data, in his fortress of ice. 

Alex might have had an interest when they were younger, but Kara had experienced years of grief and depression when talking or thinking about Krypton, and so, Alex had learned to talk about anything else to break Kara out of her funk. 

Jonn, still despite all of these years, had never quite fallen into the habit of physically talking and sharing with loved ones. Martians were such a telepathically linked species that verbal communication didn’t come naturally to Jonn. Kara suspected that he still, despite the death of his people, couldn’t shake the habit of trying to send thoughts to his loved ones via telepathic communication.

After a few moments of studying Kara, Lena smiled. “Very well, you have the job. I have stipulations though.”

“Of course you do,” Kara gazed at Lena with affection. “Name them.”

“I want our partnership to be a true collaboration. We will be honest and make decisions together. And I would be honored if you would allow me to pick your brain about Kryptonian technology and your powers.”

“Is that all?” Kara asked, jokingly. Kara felt a thrill at the prospect of spending hours plotting with Lena, executing plans, and delving into the science of metallic arts.

“No, you will also accept a six figure salary as my bodyguard. As you know, I get assassins sent after me often, so you’ll definitely earn that. And I will provide all the food that you require on top of that to keep you in top form.”

“I can’t--,” Kara tried to say. 

“Kara, I have enough money to pay you five time that and still be comfortable. It’s also in my best interest to ensure you get enough sustenance to be able to protect me. How you maintained enough calories to use your powers as Supergirl on a reporter’s salary I will never understand. And more importantly, I take care of my own. And you, Kara In-Ze, are mine. My friend. My family.”

Lena’s gaze was bored into her. Lena forced herself to maintain eye contact. The moment felt charged. She felt goose bumps form on her arms. 

“Please, say yes.” Lena asked quietly. Her voice was a soothing croon. 

“Yes,” Kara said absently. “Yes, to all of it.” Her voice came out more firm the second time around. 

“Good, now that that’s settled it’s time we decided on a game plan tomorrow.” Lena sat up straighter and pulled her feet from Kara’s lap and folded them under her.

“I think we need to get you a lawyer who knows how the DEO functions. I have a friend, Lucy Lane, who used to work for the DEO if I call her she’ll help.”

“Lucy Lane, sister of Lois Lane, the reporter?” Lena asked. 

Kara shifted uncomfortably, “Yeah, she also used to date James. I don’t want you to be surprised if James reacts badly if we involve her.” Kara’s mind stalled. _James brought the information to the DEO about the kryptonite. How did she forget to mention that?_ James Olsen couldn’t be allowed to spy on their endeavors. It hurt, just a tad, to have to deliver more news that would hurt Lena. 

What?” Lena asked. When Kara didn’t answer immediately, Lena reached out and rested her hand against Kara’s knee. She squeezed gently to get Kara’s attention. “Kara, what’s wrong?”

“It’s about James. I’m afraid he was the one who told the group and the DEO that you’ve been making green kryptonite.”

Lena let her hand fall away from Kara’s knee. “He wouldn’t.” 

Kara sighed, “I’m really sorry. I’m sorry this hurts you.”

“I don’t know why I should’ve expected better. At the end of the day, I’ll always be a Luthor.” Lena’s voice wobbled and was thick with unshed tears. Kara’s enhanced eyesight could see the accumulation of unshed tears in her eyes. 

“It’s not because you’re a Luthor. Lucy Lane told me one of the reasons her relationship with James never worked out was that he always put my cousin first. The most important relationship in James Olsen's life is Kal El. I’m sorry that I encouraged you to date James. I just...I wanted you to be happy. I thought his ties and protectiveness of Kal El might not have been as strong with their time apart. ”

Lena wiped angrily at her tears and laughed bitterly. “I don’t even know why I’m crying. It’s not as if I ever loved him.”

Kara itched to offer more comfort, but the new tentative renewal of their relationship made her hesitant. “Lena, can I hug you?” 

Lena nodded wordlessly. Kara shifted over one cushion on the couch faster than the human eye could register. Lena didn’t even flinch at what must’ve been a jarring change. And then Kara carefully, at an exaggeratedly slow pace as to not accidentally hurt Lena wrapped her in a hug. 

Lena buried her face in Kara’s neck. Kara could feel the fleetingly faint feel of Lena’s closing eyelashes brush her skin. Kara’s heartbeat picked up. It felt nice to have Lena so close. “What you’re feeling is natural,” Kara said. “It’s OK to be upset when your boyfriend lies to you. Even ones that you aren’t quite as emotionally tied to.” 

Lena’s breath hitched harshly and Lena tightened her grasp as a warm puff of air hit Kara’s neck. Kara tightened her own grasp carefully. Kare was reminded painfully of that moment years ago when Lena’s old partner Jack Spheer died. “Lena, I _will_ always protect you. I swear by Harmony, we will face this together.”

“After a few moments, Lena began to pull away. Kara loosened her arms to allow Lena to retreat. She dragged in one more deep breath, held it and closed her eyes for a few seconds, and then she exhaled. Lena looked a lot calmer. Her eyes were red but free of tears, her heartbeat was closer to normal. 

“Thank you, Kara, for letting me know. I’d rather know if I’m in a relationship with someone who would betray me. I’ll deal with that later.” Her mouth pulled into an angry frown at that. “So, Lucy Lane, can you get her to National City by tomorrow?” 

“Yes, I’ll fly out to Washington, DC in a few hours. She tends to get up earlier than most humans. That should give me enough time to talk to her, allow her to pack a go back, and fly her back here in time to brief her before the DEO and the police arrive.”

Kara made a note to stop at home. Humans really did not do well on prolonged flights at super speed. She had a hemalurgic earring that should strengthen Lucy’s body enough to withstand the force. 

“That sounds acceptable.” Lena paused for a few moments. “I want you to offer her a job at L-Corp.”

“James isn’t going to like that…actually knowing him he’ll probably assume Lucy is trying to make him jealous if she accepts.”

“I’ve never claimed to be a saint.” A mischievous smirk crossed Lena’s lips. “If it drives James crazy then good, but beyond the vindictive reasons for employing her it’s good business. If the DEO and the police are going to be sniffing around, it’ll be good to have a lawyer on staff that will be able to deal with that. Tell her that money isn’t an issue and to name her price.”

It was a solid plan, and Kara couldn’t blame her for wanting to rile up James. The more ruinous part of Kara wanted to punt James Olsen into space for hurting Lena. She’d have to settle for bringing Lucy Lane back into their life. 

* * *

I always knew when I started this fic that Kara would be quitting her job as a journalist. It always seemed weird to me to Kara just disappears for hours on the show and she still has a job...which is addressed kind of, not really in the show.

I keep expecting the next chapter to be the DEO confrontation...but then the characters decide they want to have an emotional conversation/planning session and then the plot goes places I didn't quite expect...I'll need to ruminate on _if_ the Lucy/Kara conversation really needs to happen on screen. I'm thinking because it will be the first use of hemalurgy, another part of the Mistborn magic system, in the fic it might be good to actually show that.'

Oh, and if have read Mistborn Era 2, I'd highly recommend checking out Eutexia series by tkayo. It's a super good Marasi and MeLaan femslash pairing. It's hard to find fairly lengthy Cosmere femslash fanfiction. You can check it out here: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1809268

Thanks again for reading. Next update will either be in about two weeks...or whenever I finish the next chapter. I don't want to promise anything to frequent.


	7. Chapter 6

Kara raced the slowly rising sun. She could see the sky around her lighten. She knew if she glanced behind herself the rising sun would have taken on a reddish tinge. Kara rarely watched sunsets or sunrises, not if she could help it. The sight reminded her too much of a home she would probably never see again. 

On the horizon, pin pricks of light shone brightly from the many shops, apartments, streetlamps, and cars that populated Washington, DC. Kara journeyed past the initial spread out houses on the outskirts, to the slightly more sporadically populated suburbs, to the heart of the city. Kara slowed until she was hovering in the air. 

She carefully removed a small vial of water with flakes of tin coating the bottom from one of her pockets. She swirled the vial, unpopped the cork, and downed the contents. She could sense the metal almost immediately. 

She burned the metal tentatively. Her senses immediately heightened, her eyes watered as light assaulted her eyes, a slight ache from her stomach reminded her that she hadn’t eaten this morning yet, and the continually hum of the sound around her became almost overwhelming. 

She pushed past it, her eyes closed against the slowly growing light, she sorted through all of the new auditory information. She honed in on a continually barking of a dog miles away, and forced herself to focus on it until she felt comfortable enough dealing with the onslaught of sound. 

Kara stopped burning tin and breathed out slowly. It was time to call Lucy before it became any brighter. She didn’t want to chance burning tin during the day. She stored the empty vial in her pocket and pulled her phone out of her boot. The boots were the last vestiges of the Supergirl costume that Kara still wore. They were a bloody red against the black of her outfit. For now, they were far too useful to replace. 

Kara called Lucy. 

The phone rang for an unbearably long minute, and then finally an answer came. “Supergirl, what’s going on? Is there an emergency.” Lucy’s words came out in a quick rush. Kara could hear the clink of a cup hitting a stone counter in the background. And the sound of metal cutlery hitting glass. 

“Hey, Lucy. I’m sorry for calling so early. I need a favor. Can I stop by to explain?” Kara burned tin and her senses immediately heightened. 

“Of course, when should I expect you?” The sound emanating from the phone. Lucy’s voice, her breathing, the steady rhythm of her blood flowing, the scrape of a chair against linoleum, all overwhelmed her senses.  
“Supergirl, are you still there? Is there something wrong?” Worry edged into the voice. 

It took Kara a moment to sort out the actual meaning of the words. “I’m fine.” The words came out more clipped than she meant. Kara sighed, “Sorry, sorry, this isn’t working.”

“What isn’t working. Kara, you need to use your words.”

Kara blinked. “Right. I’m in DC. I’m trying to find you.”

There was a moment of silence. And then, “Supergirl, are you trying to locate my location by sound?”

“Can you keep talking? I need a moment.”

“You are! Have you always been able to do that? That’s a tad creepy.”

Kara flared tin, heightening the amount of sound that Kara could hear, and pushed her senses out sifting through all of the sounds in the city searching for Lucy’s voice. Fortunately, very few people were up at five in the morning, so there were far fewer voices to sift through than there would be during the day. It was still nearly impossible. There was just so much sound.

Lucy prattled in the background. After a long moment, Kara sighed in frustration. There was far too much sound to effectively search for Lucy’s voice, even at this early hour. She needed a blare of sound. 

“Can you do me a favor and play some really loud music?” Kara stopped flaring tin and the sound become manageable again. 

“You want me to blast music at five thirty in the morning? Sure, why not. I don’t need my neighbors to like me, but you’ll owe me one.”

“I’ll owe you about twelve.” Kara admitted. 

“That serious? You’re lucky I like you.” There was a tinge of humor in Lucy’s voice. She could hear Lucy tap at her phone screen.

“I know,” Kara said. “I do appreciate it. You’ve always been a good friend even when I wasn’t.” She felt a twinge of guilt at the fiasco that was the disastrous James and Lucy love triangle she had bone-headedly thrown herself into. “Anyway, It won’t take long for me to sift through such a loud sound and pinpoint your house.”

“Thanks, Kara.” 

A few seconds later, a croony pop song started blasting from the phone. She pulled the phone away from her ear, and flared tin again. Kara once again, turned her senses outward and started searching. It took an uncomfortably long moment for her to pinpoint the sound to the west. There, Kara thought, victoriously. She followed the sound to the thump of Lucy’s heartbeat.

“I’ve got it.” Kara sped toward the sound, and landed smoothly on the stoop of Lucy’s apartment. Kara rapped her knuckles against the heavy wood door. She stopped burning tin and her senses returned to normal. She could still hear far too much, but at least it was a level of sound she could function with. 

“Thank god,” Lucy grumbled from within the house. The music stopped. 

If she wasn't in such a hurry, she'd feel worse about the grumpy, sleep starved, angry individuals who had been so rudely jarred from their sleep early. Most of them seemed to settle back into their bed when it became clear that the music wouldn't make an unpleasant reappearance in their lives. One unfortunate individual angrily stomped out of bed grumbling under their breath about inconsiderate neighbors.

She pushed the angry tirade out of focus when the front door opened. Lucy Lane, greeted her in an old college t-shirt and a pair of cotton blue pajama bottoms. Her hair was slightly mussed from bed, falling in slightly messier waves than her usual style.

"Morning, Kara." Lucy paused as she noticed the new outfit. Her slim tanned fingers tightened on the door as her brown eyes settled on the House of El Sigil. “You’re not high on Red K again are you?” Lucy asked warily. 

Kara fought back a sigh. She really should’ve considered that anyone living in National City at the time might have some justifiable terror at seeing this particular outfit again. She hadn’t terrorized the city at the level of Non or Reign, but she had still been an overpowered loose cannon. Kara made a mental note to talk to Lena about that new suit she offered to design. Hopefully an entirely new suit, with the In-Ze sigil incorporated, would at least ensure that not everyone she encountered would think she was infected with Red-K again.

“I’m clean.” Kara smiled sheepishly. “Sorry, I should’ve considered how the outfit would look before I came out here out of the blue wearing it. I needed a change. It was time.”

Lucy studied Kara before saying, “Well other than the outfit, you seem calm and stable...if you’re infected it’s probably early enough in the infection you won’t be murderous quite yet.” Lucy smiled teasingly.

“Come in, Kara.” Lucy stepped out of the way. Kara followed her into the house. 

“Did James tell you about the incident?”

Lucy nodded, “He told me the broader strokes of the incident. He wasn’t sure if it was something he should report to Superman. I told him it wasn’t my business and I didn’t have enough information to get involved. I got the exact details from the DEO incident report when I took over as director. I needed to know exactly who I was working with.”

“Do you know if James…” Kara trailed off. It shouldn’t bother her as much as it does to actually know that James had been reporting her activities to her cousin. That was essentially, after all, why James entered her life in the first place. 

“I’m sorry. I don’t.” Lucy said. Lucy, at that moment, looked as soft and human as Kara had ever seen her. She gazed at her with more empathy than Kara could bear. Not when Kara had screwed up so massively by getting in the middle of Lucy’s own relationship with James.

“Right. It’s years in the past, so it shouldn’t matter.” It did. She didn’t realize until this moment the actual scale of the slow degradation of her relationship with James. It certainly didn’t help that they started on uneven ground. 

“I know. James can be a good man; I’m afraid he’ll always had Superman blinders. Split loyalties make it hard to maintain healthy relationships.”

They both fell silent and Kara let her gaze wander. It was a spartan living space. There was a single tan loveseat in the living room, a mahogany TV stand, and a television. She could see the kitchen counter, and that too seemed to bare, but a microwave and a coffee maker. Overall not surprising for an ex-military type who had relocated multiple times over the past few years. 

“Would you like a coffee?” Lucy asked. “Come on, I’ll suit you up with one. I even have a black mug to match the new look.” 

Kara laughed and Lucy smiled. 

“Sure,” Kara said. Kara followed Lucy to the kitchen counter. She leaned against the counter and watched Lucy prepare the coffee. Lucy’s collection of dinnerware, from what she could see, was just as spartan as her furnishing. The entire set-up seemed more a temporary abode rather than an actual home. 

It was a relief. It would be far easier for her and Lena to convince Lucy to stay in National City if she hadn’t yet set down roots. First Kara had to get her there in the first place. 

“Do you do cream and sugar?”

“Sure, yes.”

Kara waited patiently until Lucy handed over the coffee, and went back to claim her own cup. 

Kara swirled the mug and watched the steam rise from the cup. “I don’t drink coffee much.” Kara admitted, as if she was admitting a horrible secret. “The yellow sun...tiredness isn’t an issue most of the time.”

“Well that’s a handy trick. There have definitely been times on a mission or during a court case where I would’ve killed for that.”

“You’d think it would be.” Kara said. She picked up the mug and took a gulp of coffee. The liquid hit her tongue at what she knew should be uncomfortably hot. Her powers were weird. Temperatures felt more extreme, but her body was tough enough not to react. The joys of enhanced senses. 

“How is that?”

Kara blinked as she realized she said that last part out loud. “It’s like living in a rock concert, but your body is enhanced enough to withstand it. Your body won’t change, your spirit won’t change, your mind will remain intact, but everything remains on the edge of too much. Took me years to find a balance. A semblance of harmony so to speak.”

Lucy winced in sympathy. “That sounds like a nightmare.”

“It has its moments.” Kara said. As much as she hated the powers, she couldn’t regret the ability to save her friends and family. Lena would be dead a dozen times over if Kara didn’t have her powers. 

“I’m sure.”

They drank their coffee in companionable silence for a moment.

“As much as you like me, you didn’t fly all the way out here and piss off my neighbors to drink my cheap coffee.” 

Kara nodded. “I need your help today with a delicate legal matter.”

Lucy stood up straight and put down her coffee. “How delicate are we talking?”

“The DEO has been allegedly told that Lena Luthor has been making green kryptonite. The DEO and the police will be at L-Corp early this morning to potentially arrest her and search the building.”

Lucy stared for a moment. She cocked her head as if trying to root out a complicated puzzle. Finally she inquired, “And has she?” 

Kara didn’t answer right away. “I agree that it’s necessary.” She clenched her jaw mulishly when Lucy didn’t react. 

“James mentioned you’re close friends with Lena Luthor, so I’m gonna need more than that. Lois will have my hide if she hears I’m helping a Luthor build a collection of green kryptonite. She’d never forgive me if some of that was used to hurt her Boy Scout.”

Kara blinked. “You know who Kal El is?”

Lucy rolled her eyes. “Of course, I do. You lot aren’t big on masks. And I’ve walked in on him naked more than a few times. He doesn’t always remember to lock the bathroom door. And the fact that both Superman and Clark Kent have been caught on camera canoodling Lois doesn’t help.”

“You never told them you know?”

Lucy rolled her eyes. “It’s not my business and if they wanted me to know, they’d tell me. Plus Clark is hilariously bad at coming up with logical cover stories; those stories are one of the greatest joys in my life.”

Kara smiled and admitted sheepishly. “When I first met Lena, she asked if I needed my parking validated and I told her I flew there on a bus.”

Lucy laughed, her eyes sparkling. 

Kara grinned sheepishly. “It’s kind of amazing she kept me around.”

“You trust her then?”

Kara hummed her agreement. A soft smile creeped onto her lips. “I trust Lena Luthor with my life.”

“OK?”

Lucy nodded. “OK, you have good judgement. I trust that much about this situation.”

“Is Luthor sending a jet to fly us there?” Lucy seemed to be excited about the prospect. “It would certainly beat flying coach.”

Kara shook her head. “It’s not fast enough. I’ll fly us back to National City.”

“There’s no way you can fly me fast enough to get me there alive by the time we need to.”

“I have an item that will help your body remain strong enough for the trip.” Kara removed another vial from her pocket and rested it on the marble counter. 

Lucy took a step back. “Is that blood?”

“This,” Kara said, ignoring Lucy’s squeamishness, “is a hemalurgic earring. When you put in your ear, you’ll be able to enhance your physical strength and durability. It will make you strong enough to withstand the trip.”

Lucy reached out, tentatively and picked up the vial; she tipped the bottle slightly. A small metal stud earring bobbed against the edge. “And why is it stored in blood? And whose blood is it?”

Kara sighed. “It was my Aunt Astra’s. It was given freely. Hemalurgy is messy art. Practicing it without legal declarations of consent and registration is illegal across almost all planets that recognize the practice.”

“And it’s stored in blood why? Surely there are better options?” Lucy pressed again.

“You can,” Kara said dryly. “If you want all of the power held within the earring to deplete super fast when not in a sentient body. The blood halts the power seep process almost entirely.”

“Huh, Lois has never mentioned anything about this.” 

“Clark doesn’t know about it. The El’s were not experts in the process.” Kara remembered overhearing dozens of tense arguments about the practice growing up. Her father hadn’t approved, but it was too strong and useful a tradition for her mother to agree to stop. By the time of her father’s death, he had long since stopped advocating for the family he had married into to cease the art.

“They didn’t approve.” Lucy queried. 

Kara laughed, “You could say that, yeah.”

Lucy studied the bottle for another long moment. “It’s safe?”

“Yes, as long as you don’t wear more than one spike at a time. Wearing more than makes you far too susceptible to mental attacks and emotional influence. One, especially for a limited time, is safe.”

“Here, we can have you give a try. It’s better to know now, so I can call Lena if we will need that private plane.”

Kara walked around the counter and held her hand out for the vial. Lucy handed it over and Kara uncorked the bottle. She held her hand over the opening and tipped it over. Blood seeped between Kara’s pale fingers into the sink. The strong, metallic scent of blood hit her nose. The earring hit her fingers. 

“Here, let me.” Lucy said. She quickly stepped closer and turned on the tap. Water mixed with the blood turning a washed out pink.

When the blood stopped flowing, Kara carefully pulled the bottle away and rested it on the counter. She washed the earring off ‘til it was free of blood and then rested it on the counter. 

Lucy eyed the earring. Kara noticed. “Go ahead. Why don’t you put it in?”

Kara washed out the bottle and the sink until no trace of blood remained. Then she turned her attention to Lucy. 

“I don’t feel any different.”

“Here,” Kara said. “Drink this.” She pulled one last vial out of her pocket and handed it over. 

“What is it?” Lucy accepted the vial and peered in at it. 

“Water and flakes of pewter. The pewter flakes is what will allow you to increase your strength and endurance for the flight.”

Lucy nodded, swirled the vial, then uncorked it and drank it. Her brown eyes widened. “Oh...how do I.”

“You should be able to mentally reach out and start using it. It’s pretty intuitive, once you know to some extent you can burn it, it’ll happen instantaneously when you want to.”

“Ok, I think I’ve started burning it. I’m not sure if it’s working though…”

“Go ahead and throw a punch.”

Kara shifted to the balls of her feet and fell into a combat ready stance.

“Are you sure?” Lucy asked. 

“Hmmm, come on.” Kara grinned teasingly. “You can’t say you’ve never wanted to throw a punch at me and have a bit more than a fraction of a chance.”

Lucy growled, and then threw a punch. She moved faster than she expected, and stumbled over her feet. Kara caught her. The impact hit harder than it normally would. Kara pushed her gently upright.

Kara laughed, happily, “I think that’s a success.”

Lucy stood there wide eyed. “That was…”

“It can be a tad overwhelming at first. You should stop burning the metal. Pewter is the most taxing of the metals to burn. It burns through fast. What you have should be more than enough to last us until we get to National City.”

“Right. You’ll let me use it after we get done with the trip, right?” Lucy grinned eagerly. She was practically bouncing on the soles of her feet. Lucy Lane would never admit to such an overly enthusiastic reaction. 

Kara looked at her seriously, “I’d be open to it; we’ll talk more about it after this initial mess is taken care of. It would be a loan not a gift if I agreed. It’s important you know enough about the powers to make an informed decision about long term use.”

Lucy nodded. “Ok, let me get ready and we can go. It should take me about forty-five minutes.” Lucy hurried out of the room at a brisk trot. 

After Lucy left, Kara sighed with relief. Lucy was coming. She grabbed her phone and called Lena. When Lena answered, Kara reported, “Lucy said yes. We’ll be at L-Corp in an hour and a half.”

* * *

I hope everyone had a good Christmas, and a good upcoming New Years if I don't post again before then.

I got through this chapter faster than I thought, so yeah! Took me a few false starts and tweaks to figure out how the actual plot trajectory would go for this chapter. I'm fairly satisfied with where it ended up. Once I remembered, oh yeah, Supergirl is very teen drama-esque show and pretty much everyone has dated James... the conversation almost wrote itself.

I should be able to post again within the next two weeks max hopefully. Maybe sooner if I stay motivated and life doesn't get crazy.


	8. Chapter 7

Kara did not speed to L-Corp as fast as a speeding bullet. It turns out that a human flaring pewter to enhance their strength in endurance can make the trip from Washington, DC to National City in a little over an hour. 

Kara carefully modulated her speed, pushing her senses out to try to hear or see any changes in the air flow. Lucy shivered slightly in her grasp, her head tucked into Kara’s neck to at least prevent some of the cold air from hitting her face directly. They had discovered not long into their flight that while pewter enhanced Lucy’s tolerance to severe temperature slightly, it could not dispel all of the discomfort.

Kara was thankful they were only about six minutes out from L-Corp. They had been flying over the outlying suburbs for a while now. Kara squinted slightly against the glare of the sun; she had been burning tin for most of the flight. 

Kara could hear an oncoming gust of wind, and quickly shifted upright, and put her back to it. After the first gust of wind nearly dislodged Lucy from her grasp, Kara had started burning tin and slowed down enough to give her time to sense oncoming gusts. It had taken some trial and error to discover a slight halt to their journey worked far better than trying to maneuver around the stream of air. 

Even with tin, her senses weren’t quite good enough to be able to sense the change in the air currents and then maneuver around the gusts. At least not while carrying a human that couldn’t withstand the speed that such a maneuver would require. 

“We’re almost there.” Kara reassured Lucy. “About five more minutes tops.”

“G-ood,” Lucy said, her voice shaking slightly from the cold. 

“Are you still good?” Kara inquired. Lucy felt like ice in her hands, but Kara had never been an overly good judge of human’s tolerance for temperature. Kara rarely felt cold; and even when she hadn’t been massively enhanced by Earth’s sun, Argo City had a fairly temperate climate. 

Lucy untucked her head from Kara’s throat long enough to peer up at her. Her hair, even pulled up into a ponytail, was a tad wild. Fly away hairs that had squirmed free during the flight fell around her face haphazardly. “Just get me there already, Danvers. Next time Luthor is gonna have to build me a flight suit.”

Kara smiled. Next time. It was good to know there would be a next time. “I’ll let Lena know.” And Kara would, chances are this wouldn’t be the only time a human joined her on a cross country flight. One way or another, war was coming. With the DEO, Reign, and whatever other threats were on the horizon, it was best to be overly prepared. 

Lucy hummed in ascent before tucking her head down once again. She squealed and grasped her left hand tighter around Kara’s neck as they started flying toward L-Corp again. They passed under a flock of geese, their beady black eyes peering down at the duo. The lead goose let out a hoarse honk as they passed. A warning and a challenge, Kara figured. Kara could respect the urge to protect the flock.

And then the next second, the birds were dozens of feet behind. And then they had arrived at National City, the skyline a series of medium height skyscrapers. The buildings jutting into the skyline were far smaller than Krypton had to offer. Earth’s technology was in its adolescence, impressive to be sure, but a far cry from the technological achievements Krypton’s Science Guild had heralded. 

By the time, Kara landed on the balcony of L-Corp, it was just past eight. Lucy untucked her head as Kara touched down. Kara lowered Lucy to the floor of the balcony.

Lucy’s swayed back and forth precariously, and reached out her hand to grasp Kara’s bicep to balance herself. “Give me a second.” Lucy gasped out. Kara could feel Lucy’s shaking fingers digging into her arm for added traction. Part of Lucy’s hair had escaped the pony tail, and haphazardly trailed down her left cheek. Her heartbeat raced as adrenaline and fear quickened her blood. 

The door to Lena’s office was slightly ajar. Kara could not see Lena in the office at the moment. Kara stretched her senses out until she found Lena three floors down addressing her employees. “I want security on call this morning. I expect some unexpected visitors. Call me directly when they arrive. If you can’t get in touch with me, call Jess. I will be very...unimpressed if I’m not given ample warning,” Lena ordered.

_ Good _ , Kara thought with a kind of fierce pride that filled her with warmth. Lena was preparing in her own way. Getting everything prepared here while Kara fulfilled her own objective. Kara could get used to having such a compatible partner. 

Lucy shakily attempting to push off of Kara’s biceps, pulled Kara back to the here and now. Lucy looked as frail and shaky as a baby fawn learning to walk for the first time. The motions jagged, unbalanced, and slightly too weak to be entirely effective. That wouldn’t do. She wouldn’t allow an ally to stagger and potentially hurt themselves, not when Kara herself was potentially responsible for their state. 

“Let me get you inside. Allow me to carry you one last time,” Kara urged. 

Lucy nodded, her head jerking down and up quickly. The motion was performed so fast, it would almost seem a blur to a normal human.

_ Good, she’s still burning pewter _ , Kara thought. She grasped Lucy under her legs, and lifted her into her arms. 

She nudged the door the rest of the way open with her foot, and then speed walked over to the white couch against the wall. “Let’s sit you down.”

Kara lowered Lucy onto the cushion. Lucy collapsed against the arm rest and sighed in relief. “Thanks.”

Kara nodded, and then zipped over and snagged the blanket that Lena stored in the closet attached to her office. She zipped back and tucked the blanket over Lucy. Lucy snuggled her nose into the blanket. Kara could hear the sound of Lucy rubbing her hands together vigorously within her cocoon of fleece. 

Kara hovered over Lucy for a moment, before straightening. She already seemed to be shivering less, Kara realized with satisfaction. “As soon as you feel warm enough, you should stop burning pewter.”

“I can stop burning-”

**** Kara interrupted quickly, “Don’t. You can stop flaring the metal, but don’t stop burning it all together...at least not until your body temperature has risen. Pewter, it can’t prevent hypothermia or frostbite, but it can make the body more resistant for a while.”

“Handy. I would’ve been nice if I had it on tour.” Lucy reached up from within the blanket to run her fingers the stud in her ear. The blanket dipped slightly breaking the cocoon with the motion 

Kara shrugged and when Lucy’s arm retreated again, Kara readjusted the blanket back over Lucy’s shoulder. “It can be. Pewterarms, that’s what we called them, were some of our best warriors. They can hit harder, fight longer, and shrug off wounds that would down any normal kryptonian. It can be dangerous though; they don’t always realize that they're bleeding out until after they stop burning the metal. Or in slightly less extreme cases, the metal might be the only thing that is keeping them from going into shock.”

Kara felt her mind stagger. The description hit far too close to home. Her Aunt Astra had been a Pewterarm. Astra hadn’t had access to the metals that might’ve saved her life, Kara didn’t think. The wound that Alex had inflicted might’ve been survivable if she had pewter to flare. And Kara had pewter, far more of it than any other metal. It was a ridiculously cheap metal to get on earth. 

_No_ , Kara pushed the thought away, buried it where she kept her feelings of bitterness over Kal El or her sorrow over the loss of her parents. _Rust and ruin,_ _now is not the time to fall apart,_ Kara berated. 

Lucy shuffled as she burrowed deeper into the blanket. She seemed both fascinated about the power and a tad worried over Kara zoning out. “When this is all over, you’ll have to explain how it all works in more detail.” After a second, Lucy’s lips pulled into a frown. “Kara, I don’t expect you to give me the earring. If it’s a family heirloom, it seems…” Lucy trailed off and shrugged, the blanket rising with the motion.

Kara gazed at Lucy for a second. Lucy Lane was a warrior, a practical one that was more aligned with the Lawmakers guild, but a warrior nonetheless. She had actively partaken in military ops in the past. Astra would’ve approved. While another of the spikes might be a better fit, Kara couldn’t think of anyone else, save Lena, who she would offer the honor of one the In-Ze hemalurgic spike collection. 

“If I used it, it would be overkill. And I don’t have any family that might utilize it to advance our goals. I’d be honored if you accepted it, but we can talk about that more later. We have the DEO and the police to deal with first.”

She wasn’t naive enough to assume that the DEO and Alex would give up after the first rebuff. Alex was too stubborn, and a tad too overzealous in her protection of Kara, to bow out after the first lost battle. They would have a larger, more drawn out war to fight. Both with the DEO and larger, more destructive opponents like Reign. 

Lena’s voice drifting closer to the closed grey biparting door of the office, snagged Kara’s attention. Kara’s head snapped to the side. Jess,  _ I want to know the moment any guests enter the floor _ , Lena was saying. The sound of footsteps came closer for a second, before Jess, Lena’s assistant, murmured her assent and veered away from Lena. Most likely to her desk. Lena’s footsteps continued toward the doors of the office. 

As much as she’d like to be here to introduce the two, they were running short on time. Kara had to pick up some last minute necessities from her apartment. They needed more time, and Kara with a quick delay, could buy them that time. 

“Tell Lena, I’ll be back in ten minutes.” Kara said. 

Lucy opened her mouth, most likely to object, but Kara was already out of the building on the balcony. She didn’t stop her momentum to close the balcony door on her way out. Instead she picked up speed and jettisoned toward her apartment. She arrived at her apartment in minutes. She hovered at the window of her building, opened it, and then slipped inside. Normally she would be a tad more wary about utilizing her powers in broad daylight right outside her abode, but Kara suspected her days at this apartment were numbered. 

Kara sped to her closet, selected a grey button down dress shirt, and a pair of black slacks. And changed into them. It was too soon to reveal to the world that her vigilante persona was an alien. Not when her civilian persona would be Lena’s personal bodyguard. It was best to deal with this confrontation as Kara Danvers. 

On the way out of the closet, she stopped at her trunk and carried it to the kitchen and placed it on the wood countertop. She grabbed a glass from her pantry, filled it with water from the tap, and then opened the trunk. She hesitated a moment unsure which metals might be useful for the confrontation with the DEO. The matter was unlikely to turn into a physical fight. If it did, they would’ve already lost.

Stick with the mental and temporal metals, Kara decided. Kara pulled the bottles labeled Zinc, Brass, and Bendalloy out of the trunk and placed it on the countertop. She hesitated over the bottle labeled cadmium.

Cadmium would allow her to slow down time in a limited area.  _ Unlikely to be useful _ , Kara decided. Plus cadmium, toxic as it was to most sentient life, had been a harder material to get her hands on and prepare correctly. It was best not to ingest it, if it wouldn’t be useful. She’d didn’t relish the idea of forcing herself to throw it up because of the cost of the metal and its toxicity. Kara wasn’t sure how she would react to it personally. Not here on Earth at least. 

She poured a generous amount of each of the three alloys into the cup, swirled it, and then chugged the water. Kara could sense the new metal reserves immediately. She packed away the vials, closed the trunk, and then stored it in the back of her bedroom closet. 

Kara flew out of her window, stopped long enough to close it and then sped back toward L-Corp. 

As she arrived on the balcony, Lena opened the door. “You’re late,” Lena scolded. 

Lena glanced over at the analog clock on the white shelves at the side of the room before returning her gaze to Kara. Lena’s mouth stretched down into a stressed frown. She grabbed Kara’s hand, and ushered her into the room. Kara allowed herself to be pulled. 

“I’m sorry. I needed to return home to pick up some allomantic metals that will give us an edge.”

Lena gave Kara a curious look and looked like she might say something before glancing back at the clock. Lena sighed, “Why don’t we sit and then you can explain quickly,” Lena suggested. She moved behind the white desk and sat down. 

Lucy already occupied one of the light tan office chairs in front of the desk. She shifted the angle, so that she faced Lena. Kara walked over to the chair at a normal human pace, and then sat down. As she did so, she tentatively began burning bendalloy to create a bendalloy bubble. She glanced over to the analog clock, and to her relief the second hand began to move sluggishly. Instead of skipping around at a normal pace, it appeared to stall for long seconds before moving on.

Kara relaxed slightly; she wasn’t sure how long she could keep that up, but it gave them a bit more preparation time.

“Kara?” Lena inquired. She followed Kara’s gaze to the clock. It took her a bit to realize that time appeared to have stalled. When she did, her gaze snapped back to Kara. “How?”

Kara couldn’t help the smug grin that crept out. “It’s another type of the magic I have access to...all you need to know right now is that I can for a limited period slow time for us. I can’t buy us more than a half an hour tops, so it’s best we start planning.”

For a second, Lena looked like she might object. Kara knew that the scientist in Lena was dying to pepper her with questions, to start conducting experiments, and figure out how they could utilize this newfound power to change the world. 

Lena buried her curiosity though and shifted her gaze to Lucy. Lucy had already moved away from the time manipulation reveal into planning mode. When you work with superheroes on a fairly regular basis and you don’t have the brain of a scientist, it became pretty normal to push past the weird into the nitty gritty details. 

“Thank you, again, for coming Lucy. We don’t have much time before the DEO arrives. We’ll need to have a plan to deal with them. Do you have any initial strategy thoughts?”

“Well,” Lucy said. “Creating kryptonite isn't technically illegal under federal or state law, but they are a secret government agency which leads to a lot of grey areas for the DEO to work within.” 

Kara fought back a guilty twitch. The DEO had held Maxwell Lord in custody for a few weeks without a proper trial or a jail sentence. The secret organization abducting Lena and holding her in an untraceable black site was a very justifiable worry. “She’s right. It’s not just aliens or powered humans the DEO has imprisoned. A few years back, the DEO detained Maxwell Lord for a few weeks.”

“I remember that,” Lena said, her voice slow as she clearly picked through old, dusty memories. “His disappearance was all over the news for weeks and it was a fairly popular conversation topic at the dinner parties and business meetings I attended.”

“I won’t allow that,” Kara said stubbornly, fury rose at the thought of Lena being kept in a windowless cell at the DEO. Never knowing when or if she would see the sunlight again. Never having any type of prolonged contact with anyone, other than her apathetic jailors. 

“That’s what I’m here to prevent,” Lucy quickly interjected, eyeing Kara a tad warily. 

Kara knew her eyes and the delicate skin around them, if she looked in the mirror, would be taking on a slightly red tint that came with her laser vision. She closed her eyes and forced herself to breath in and out slowly for a second to calm down. 

Lucy and Lena planned in the background. Recordings would need to be made, letters, and editorials could be quickly drafted to create enough evidence that the world would know if the DEO and through them the United States government chose to illegally detain the CEO of one of the nation's wealthiest companies and families. 

When Kara calmed enough, she suggested, “We can threaten to send the information to The Daily Planet. I don’t trust that James in his editorial role will run the piece in Catco. As well as a few individual reporters that we trust. Lois Lane, I think, would report on it if I asked her. She and Kal don’t always agree. If I tell her I trust you, she’ll do it.”

“I can put in a good word with Lois as well. Our father doesn’t have a good track record with aliens, but she knows I’m a tad more level headed about the topic. That should be enough for Lois to look past the Luthor and kryptonite connection.”

“Let’s do that.” Lena said. “Now we just have to worry about the DEO and the police finding a technically ‘legal’ reason to detain me and search the premises.” 

Lucy paused for a moment, and then she smiled. “Correct me if I’m wrong,” Lucy asked, “Does L-Corp still have military contracts with the federal government?”

“Yes, mostly defensive, medical, and security technology these days. I halted most active weapon construction and development once I re-branded the company.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Lucy said, she waved a hand dismissively. “There’s an expected extra layer of privacy and security in any military aligned deal. They don’t have the grounds to search the building if they’re reasoning is to find a technically legal substance. Nor will they have the evidence they need to arrest you; the most they’ll be able to do legally is to temporarily arrest you, do a perp walk, and then a few hours later I’ll be able to get the charges dismissed by a judge.”

“We don’t have the time to for me to lose hours in police custody.” Lena objected. “Not with Reign out there.”

“I’ll see what I can do. I have an old military buddy I can call. He might be interested that overzealous police are attempting to compromise the secrecy and security of military equipment on a witch hunt.”

“How long will that take?” Kara asked. 

“The call shouldn’t take long, ten minutes tops, but I would like to get cleaned up before the police and DEO get here if possible.”

“You can take both the call and freshen up in my personal bathroom. It’s right through there.” Lena nodded toward the bathroom attached to the office.

“Let me drop the time bubble. Leaving it can be a tad uncomfortable, at first, I’ve been told.” Kara ceased burning metal, and time began to function normally. 

Lucy hurried out of the room and closed the bathroom door behind her. Kara shifted her focus away to give Lucy as much privacy as a Kryptonian with superior senses could give someone.

“Thank you, Kara,” Lena said softly. “Bringing Lucy here, helping me protect L-Corp, working with me to stop Reign...you’re making a ridiculously horrid situation better.” Lena reached out towards Kara over the desk. Kara leaned forward and clasped Lena’s hand. They lingered for a moment that seemed to stretch time in it’s own non-magical way. 

And then the moment was broken when Lena’s eyes broke contact and flicked over to the traitorously clicking clock. “I’ll start writing the letters,” Lena said, pulling the sleek silver laptop sitting on her desktop closer to herself.

“I’ll call Lois first, then come help you with those letters.” They could use some super speed typing to buy them some more time, but first she would have to convince Kal El’s wife to protect a Luthor. 

* * *

I wasn't sure if I was gonna finish this tonight. I had a very long, but fun day of skiing today. :) I put in enough time to do edits, add more description, and finish off the chapter. So yeah for being productive.

I've reached 20,000 words which isn't something I've ever really done with a story. So hurray! It's been fun and I look forward to continuing on this journey.

I'll try to update in the next two weeks, but with it being ski season I tend to be a tad more busy than I am normally. So it might fluctuate a tad one way or the other in when I'm able to put out another chapter.

Thanks for reading. Stay safe out there.


	9. Chapter 8

**New Spoiler Warning**

This has a very, very small _The Stormlight Archive_ , _Rhythm of War_ spoiler. It's for now a fairly small mention, but next chapter it'll be delved into a tad more explicitly. It's less of a Rhythm of War plot heavy spoiler and more of a Cosmere as a whole reveal that was mentioned in _Rhythm of War_. Figured I'd give ya'll a warning just in case you haven't read Stormlight and plan to or haven't read the latest book yet. 

* * *

“They’re coming,” Kara said. Kara’s fingers stilled over the keys on the silver laptop she had been typing on. A moment later, the shrill tone of Lena’s cellphone rang through the room. Lucy poked her head into the office from the adjoining room, her own phone against her ear. 

Lena answered the phone call. “The FBI and the police are here, Miss Luthor.” 

Lena’s face hardened. She breathed in sharply. Lena swiveled her chair to face Kara, and beyond her Lucy. Eyes a chilly blue met kryptonite green. 

Destiny had arrived, far sooner than they would’ve liked, but very few in life had the luxury of dictating where and how they would meet each challenge life threw at them. They were as prepared as they could’ve hoped. With Lena as a partner, and Lucy as backup, she’d take those odds a dozen times over. A grim smile crept onto Kara’s lips. Kara nodded. 

Lena’s posture relaxed, her fingers clutched at her phone just a tad more lightly. “Have security escort them to my office. Call Jess and inform her that I will be having visitors soon.”

“Yes, Miss Luthor.”

The phone call ended and Kara could hear Alex, floors below scoff as she was told that security would be happy to escort them to Lena’s office. 

Kara quickly hunched back over and finished writing the email to Lois. Her fingers flew across the keys of the laptop far faster than a human was capable. She pressed send on the email and then quickly closed down the laptop.“The contingency plans have been put in place?” Lena inquired, she drummed her nails on the desk. 

“Emails have been sent to Lois and the Daily Planet. And the timed emails have been set up just in case today doesn’t go in our favor,” Kara confirmed. She rose from the desk chair that had been set up right next to Lena’s own behind the desk. Kara picked up the chair and returned it at a normal pace to its usual position in front of the desk. 

Lucy Lane stepped into the office, her smartphone clutched in her hand. “My military contact said he made calls to a few contacts in the National Security Agency to get the DEO to back off. He couldn’t confirm they’d do what we want, but he seemed optimistic about the chances.”

“It’s done then,” Kara said.

“We’re as ready for this as we’ll ever be,” Lena agreed. “Kara, where are they now?”

Kara stretched her hearing. “They’re in the elevator about ten floors down.”

Kara maneuvered ‘til she stood a step behind Lena’s chair.

Lucy crossed the room, and sat in one of the chairs in front of the desk. She pulled out a bundle of paperwork in a manila file folder and laid it on the desk. Best to keep up appearances, the group had agreed prior to this moment. Lucy was there on an official capacity as Lena’s lawyer, not to pre-plan how to foil the DEO’s plot. 

The elevator door opened. Kara could hear the heavy clomp of boots on the stone floor. Lucy flicked open the file folder and started fiddling with the papers. Lena turned her office chair to glance back at Kara one last time. Kara’s face slowly turned, as she tracked the group navigating toward the office. 

Lena let her eyes linger for a second longer on, this could go bad, but she knew that Kara Danvers wouldn’t allow her to languish in prison. She was startled to realize that she had faith in Kara Danvers. God help her, but she did.

Lena swivelled her chair back around smoothly. The double doors of the office swung open. Jess rushed in, her black hair a tad askew, slightly out of breath, she gasped out, “The visitors are here.”

Alex Danvers, in DEO black fatigues, rushed into the room on her heels. She jerked to a stop and her face froze for a moment at seeing Kara standing guard behind Lena. Kara fought back a smug smile. 

Maggie Sawyer entered the room at a more normal pace a few steps behind, along with another police officer, a woman with blond hair secured neatly in a ponytail, and an abnormally tall woman in a crisp black suit with a L-Corp security badge pinned to the pocket.

Kara glanced over the other law enforcement officers, before darting her gaze back to Alex. Her sister’s brown eyes flashed with fury, and her hand jerked minutely toward the gun on her thigh. 

Kara took a step forward, her eyes trained on the gun at her sister’s thigh. Her sister’s hands clenched before retreating from the weapon. Kara took another step froward until she was directly next to Lena. 

Lucy Lane stood from her chair and asked, “Officers, is there something we can help you with? I’m Lucy Lane, Lena’s personal lawyer.” Lucy held her hand out to Maggie to shake.

Alex gaze jerked to the side at Lucy’s voice, and Kara could see her going from angry to furious at being maneuvered so successfully.

Maggie eyed her girlfriend warily before glancing back over at the lawyer. “Maggie Sawyer, NCPD.” She pulled her police badge out of her pocket and flashed it. “This is my college Officer Spivot and Agent Danvers with the FBI.”

“I’m afraid you caught my lawyer, Ms. Danvers, and myself in a private meeting. Is there something I can help National City’s finest with?” Lena inquired. She graced the room with a chilly smile. 

“We heard,” Alex said, her voice with an angry edge to it, “that Ms. Luthor has some illegal material on site. You understand why we get concerned about that, especially a company with the reputation of LutherCorp.”

“LuthorCorp was rebranded a year ago, but I think you know that,” Lena said, her voice sharp. She stood and leaned forward against the desk. “I have to wonder what the world would think if it was revealed you’re engaged in an unfounded witch hunt.”

Alex snorted. “LCorp, LuthorCorp, from my vantage there isn’t much difference. The world knows that. The organization, regardless of names, continually breaks laws and conducts dubious experiments with dangerous, illegal substances. Do you deny it?”

“Don’t answer that,” Lucy advised, she took a step to the side to put herself between the two combating parties. “So far all I hear is hearsay officers. It doesn’t seem like you have any credible evidence of illegal wrongdoings conducted by LCorp under the leadership of Lena Luthor or Lena herself.”

Alex scoffed, and Maggie darted her gaze over to her. Office Spivot shuffled unconformably behind the crew. LCorps security guard’s gaze seemed to jump between parties involved, not overly interested in the drama, but ready to intervene if necessary. 

Maggie Sawyer, a solid calm to Alex Danvers’ furious blaze, held her hands up beseechingly. “Clearly, if you have nothing to hide, you wouldn’t mind giving us a tour of the premises to assure us that LCorp isn’t breaking the law.” 

Maggie shot Lena what might’ve been a charming, warm smile in different circumstances. Maggie Sawyer was skilled at presenting ideas in a reasonable manner that made warring parties see the error of their ways in most situations. It also helped that she came into most situations with far more compassion and empathy for her fellow citizens than most of her colleagues. It’s what made her a stellar cop. 

Lena Luthor had dealt with dozens of sachurine, crooning, double faced snakes in her daily life growing up with rich socialites. She would not be swayed by a dimpled welcoming smile, and a calm reasonable tone. And even if she was likely to be swayed, Lucy Lane as her lawyer wouldn’t let her. Nor would Kara Danvers, Lena knew. 

“I’m afraid agent, officers, that I’ll need to see a search warrant to search the premises, or a valid reason to arrest Miss Luthor. LCorp has important proprietary projects, and contractual obligations to its government partners not to let the details of sensitive projects leak to the press. A tour of the premises is out of the question,” Lucy said. She didn’t bother to look apologetic or contrite. 

With each word, Kara could feel the fuse of her sister’s temper become more strained, ready to ignite. Kara tapped zinc and focused her attention on her sister. She used the metal to carefully dampen some of the rage that permeated around Alex. 

An angry Alex was an unreasonable Alex. She knew her sister was a few seconds from whipping out her handcuffs and perp walking Lena out of the premises into a DEO black site. The law, for better or worse, wasn't more important than her little sister's safety. 

Kara would award that misguided loyalty by not using emotional allomancy to tip her rage over the edge, instigate a furious illegal arrest, and then allow Lucy to do her legal magic to spring Lena out of jail and get the investigation permanently squashed. The train of events would surely get Alex reprimanded at work, or far worse, fired from the DEO. Kara wouldn’t cross that line. Alex deserved that much for protecting her for the past decade, but she would not allow Alex to throw Lena to the wolves. And she would utilize almost all of her skills to ensure that. 

Kara knew she was most likely being a tad hamfisted with her use of emotional allomancy. If Jonn had been there, he would’ve been able to detect her influence in mere seconds. Luckily for them, he had stepped down from the DEO months ago. 

Alex relaxed noticeably, her posture unclenched, and her face seemed just a tad more open. She no longer appeared ready to escalate the situation into a fight. The shift in emotion seemed almost too fast though, Kara tried to ease off how much pressure she put into her allomantic pulses.

Kara noticed the security guard’s head jerk toward Alex and then shifted her gaze to Kara herself. Kara ignored the attention, instead she shifted her focus over to Maggie, while continuing to sooth her sister. _Best not to focus on Alex while doing this_ , Kara thought. She didn’t want anyone to connect any abnormal changes in her sister’s mental state to herself. The chances were slim that would happen, but far better to be paranoid about the matter. 

“Do you really want us to go through the effort of getting a court order? The press would have a field day if they knew.” Maggie paused as she said that, and her eyes darted over to Kara who technically was a member of the press. Press that Lena hadn’t asked to step outside during this very contentious, very newsworthy interaction between a major company and the NCPD. 

Kara reached up and fiddled with her glasses. “I was actually just talking to Lois Lane about the matter. I thought the allegations might be of interest to a reporter of her calibre. I knew Lena would understand that I had to be true to my principles and pass on the matter to be investigated. I could’ve reported on the matter myself, but I’m afraid I’m far too attached to Lena to be objective.” She smiled at Lena warmly. She fought back the urge to reach out and grasp Lena’s hand. 

It was honestly amazing she was able to keep a straight face throughout that diatribe. It was a load of shit, of course. It had always been a major failing of hers and CatCo, really that she hadn’t stepped away from reporting on Lena or LCorp. If she were honest with herself, she hadn’t been able to in years report objectively about Lena Luthor. 

Catco really shouldn’t have kept sending her to report on a woman that she had formed such a strong attachment to even if they enjoyed the ease of access. And Kara enjoyed the prolonged lunch breaks, the charming company, and a glimpse into Lena Luthor’s brilliant mind that the interviews allowed far too much. 

She really was absurdly unsuited for a job as a reporter, Kara knew. 

“YOU WHAT?!!!” Alex yelled. 

Lucy jumped at the noise taken by surprise by the sudden yell. Kara straightened and stubbornly met Alex’ furious gaze. Kara could see the smug smile that Lena shot the law enforcement officers from the corner of her eye. 

Maggie froze, her head darted to Kara, wide brown eyes focused on the Kryptonian. The realization that Kara had switched sides in the hours that the DEO and the police had been preparing this raid themselves. And Kara and Lena had at least in the short term had done a darn good job of outmaneuvering them. 

“I was concerned that Lena might have been unfairly targeted by government organizations that had the power to push through a wrong conviction. I knew I wouldn’t have been able to live with myself if Lena just disappeared one day and I did nothing to prevent it. You understand, Alex, why I contacted Lois...and a few other reporters I trust.”

Alex glared at Kara. Alex was a seething cold rage that promised retribution at some point in the future. The only thing keeping Alex as calm as she was, Kara knew was the slow steady soothing that Kara pushed toward her sister to dampen her rage. Alex and Kara would have a reckoning in the days to come, but that was a problem for another day. 

Maggie seemed, for once, at a loss for what to do. Her gaze swiveled around the room before landing back on her girlfriend. Maggie sighed before training her eyes back on Lena. “Are you sure you don’t want to just put this to rest with a quick tour of the premises to confirm that all is as it should be,” Maggie asked. She didn’t seem very hopeful. 

“I’m afraid not. If you don’t have a warrant to search the premises, I don’t think this conversation needs to go much further,” Lena said. 

“Thank you for your time then, Miss Luthor,” Maggie said. “You know my number if you change your mind. Otherwise, I’m sure we’ll be in touch once we receive that search warrant.”

“You’re welcome to try to get a search warrant, but I doubt a single judge will grant you it on such flimsy evidence. The word of a jealous, soon to be ex-boyfriend isn’t a very good character witness.” Lena’s smile was a brittle thing.

Alex starred daggers at Kara. Maggie tugged on her arm, whispered in her ear, and then turned back to the room. “Thank you again for your time.”

Alex stalked angrily from the room, and Kara let allomantic touch fade as she passed the threshold. Maggie and the other officer followed Alex from the room. The door slammed closed behind the retreating law enforcement officials. 

The security guard remained behind, a tall human far taller than the average, hair a striking raven, face angular, and almost distractingly gorgeous. Kara though, as gone as she was for Lena, hadn’t given the women more than a passing glance during the confrontation. 

Kara ignored her for a moment. She listened as the group of law enforcement officers entered the elevator. The group was silent save for the rapid beating of their hearts and the steady sound of breathing.

“Harmony knows,” the woman began pulling Kara back to the present, “You’ve got yourself in a bit of a ruinous pit. The humans hunting you on one side, and the Reign and the Lord of Scars minions on the other.”

* * *

Thanks for reading as always. I have the first part of Chapter 9 written, so the next chapter should be up in two weeks if all goes well. I thought of giving you a tad more of what had been written, but I wanted a bit more time to plan out the overall plot and where exactly I want things to go.

I realized a few weeks ago, that I had inadvertently started the story with Maggie and Alex still in a relationship, Sam not in charge of LCorp and Lena not as involved at CatCo. I'll have to go into where Sam has been in the next chapter or two...she is going to be a fairly big character I think in the future. I'm on the fence on how I want to address the Alex/Maggie relationship. I've always been more of a Alex/Sam shipper which makes it kind of weird that I did start it Alex/Maggie...oh well...I guess I'll just go where the story takes me with them. Alex isn't a super big character at this point at least in terms of working with the gang, so I have a bit of time to figure out what I want to do with that.

**Author's Note:**

> Spoilers for Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn Era 1 & 2\. I'd recommend reading those first. You won't regret it.


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